To call the Nexus 7 a success would be an understatement. Its low price and high-end specs made it one of the most popular Android tablets on the market. Its main competitors are Amazon's Kindle Fire and Apple's iPad mini in the low-end tablet market.
According to Reuters, Google wants to aggressively price the second-generation Nexus 7 so it can ensure the tablet will be an even bigger hit than its predecessor. The upcoming Nexus 7 is expected to have a full HD display, a thinner bezel (think iPad mini), and the tablet's processor will be replaced with a Qualcomm chip instead of Nvidia's Tegra 3, which was used in the original Nexus 7.
The tablet is expected to ship in July, just like the original Nexus 7. There hasn't been any indication of expected pricing on the new tablet, but sources believe Google will either price the tablet beginning at the same $199 price point as with the Nexus 7, or if Google really wants to undercut Amazon and Apple, it could price the tablet around $149. Google will be contracting with ASUS to build the second-generation Nexus 7. Why mess with success?
Google, like Amazon, has never disclosed how many tablets it has sold. Google is believed to be planning on shipping six to eight million of the new Nexus 7s in the second half of this year. This is an increase on the estimated 4.6 million Nexus 7s Google sold during the same period last year.
The low-end tablet market is going to get very competitive in 2013, with Google, Apple and Samsung all expected to be releasing updated versions of their popular smaller tablets. Google looks like it wants to beat everyone to market, and if it releases the new Nexus 7 in July, it just might succeed.
