After all the hype over Apple‘s newest products, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as the Apple Watch, the focus seems to have moved away from Apple and onto the latest Nexus 9.
Over the summer, there were rumours all around the Internet that Google will be collaborating with Taiwan’s HTC in the Nexus 9’s production. The rumours were confirmed to be true according to a report filed by The Wall Street Journal on Monday (22nd September).
According to the “people familiar with the matter”, Google had selected HTC over other more experience tablet makers to produce the rumoured 9-inch Nexus tablet. They told the journal that HTC engineers have been flying to the Googleplex in Mountain View in the last few months to work on the tablet, which is said to be released on the third quarter of 2014.
But so far, both Google and HTC had declined to neither confirm nor comment on whether they are indeed collaborating on the new Nexus 9.
Google was quoted by the Wall Street Journal: “Android is a vibrant ecosystem, and many of the industry players are doing very well. There’s room for many partners to do well and to innovate with Android.”
This news makes the rumours of HTC’s role to play more real. Google had collaborated with Samsung on the previous Nexus 10.
“The choice may seem unusual, as HTC lacks a strong tablet track-record and focuses almost exclusively on smartphones,” the journal wrote. “But Google’s decision to pick HTC reflects the software giant’s long-standing philosophy of building a broad base of partners. Google likes to change its partners from device to device to avoid any one manufacturer gaining a monopoly,”
(Image Credit: androidiani)
Google and HTC had collaborated on the first Google Nexus’s smartphone – Nexus One in 2010. And HTC has not made a tablet since the last 7-inch Flyer was released in 2011.
There are no known details and specs on the Nexus 9 yet, but according to The Verge, Google will unveil the tablet alongside the full public release of the Android L update. Android L or Android 5.0 is said to have a major visual redesign known as ‘material design’, where its visual interface is built to be more responsive.
If the report by The Verge is true, Nexus 9 will be the first Android device to use Android L. Rumour also has it that the device will run on Nvidia’s new K1 processor. This news came after Nvidia filed a patent lawsuit against Qualcomm and Samsung earlier this month. According to a report by Droid Life, Nvidia had specifically named the new Nexus 9 to be powered by Tegra K1.
“.. The HTC Nexus 9, expected in the third quarter of 2014, is also expected to use the Tegra K1,” the excerpt no 134 of the legal document filed by the company said. However, upon reading the legal document available online, Vulcan Post found out that the last statement on Nexus 9 on the excerpt had been deleted, or perhaps it never has been there.
Although the Tegra K1 processor in Nexus 9 cannot be confirmed yet, but looking at Google’s habit to reveal its new Android and Nexus devices mostly in October, we can expect the rumours that Nexus 9 is to be unveiled in next month to be reliable.
