Despite being rumored to have been abandoned some time ago, fresh leaks have emerged to suggest that the HTC Nexus 9 is in fact real and will launch before the summer is out.
It’s been called everything from a dead-cert to a work of pure fiction over the last few weeks along – the Google Nexus 9 just will not give up and play dead.
The general consensus among industry analysts and observers alike is that for one reason or another, Google is to do away with its Nexus hardware lineup. Despite enormous success and the kind of devices that have given all-comers a pretty painful run for their money, we’re being warned to expect very few, or perhaps no more Nexus products this year or any.
Instead, it’s all about Google’s Android Silver project, which may or may not come to fruition during Q1 of 2015. Something of an expansion of the ‘Play Edition’ lineup of devices, it’s theorized that the all-powerful web giant will focus more on third-party devices than building its own.
It’s all a very bittersweet tale for hardware fans, but the good news is there could at least be one more device in the pipeline before the plug is pulled once and for all. As mentioned above, the tenacious Nexus 9 has once again popped up in a supposedly leaked image, confirming not only the existence of the device, but also its core specifications and hardware.
First published by Android Police, the report suggests that…as suspected for some time…Google has for its final tablet PC teamed up with HTC. Having already promised that new-generation slate of some description or another would be on the market before the end of the summer, HTC could deliver on its word by supplying the grunt behind the 8.9-inch Nexus name…aka the Volantis or the Flounder.
What’s interesting to note is the ongoing suggestion that it was in fact Google’s initial intent to partner with HTC for both version of the Nexus 7 tablet to date. An unexpected and unspecified hiccup is said to have occurred prior to things kicking off, which is why it ended up being Asus that put its name to the iconic 7-inch tablets.
For HTC to put its name to the very final device carrying the Nexus branding would therefore be somewhat poetic.
If the new shot itself is anything to go by, the Nexus 9 will as predicted feature an 8.9-inch screen with a sizeable 2,048 by 1,440 pixel count. Under the hood, power will be served up courtesy of an Nvidia Tegra K1 chip – aka the Nvidia Logan 64-bit CPU – along with 2GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera to the rear and storage options of 32GB and 16GB. The whole thing is said to be wrapped up in a gorgeous aluminum unibody and tip the scales at just 418g…the LTE version upping this slightly to 427g.
Of course, the above recipe really doesn’t mean a great deal unless accompanied by a digestible price – low prices having proved the biggest selling point of all Nexus hardware to date. According to this particular report, the Nexus 9 will start from $399 for the Wi-Fi only 16GB version and range right up to $600+ for 4G LTE and 32GB.
If so, it will face gigantic competition from the likes of Apple’s iPad Air and all manner of new-generation Android slates, though as all information to date is unofficial in nature things could change radically by the time the thing sees the light of day.
That is, assuming it even exists…of course.