In anticipation of the tablet unveiling, rumors of the Nexus 8 are heating up

Mar 13, 2014 12:07 GMT  ·  By

Google has two tablets pertaining to Nexus family. The Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 have both been released in 2012, but only the Nexus 7 has received a refresh in 2013, while the next-gen 10-incher is still expected to make an appearance.

In the meanwhile, the rumor mill has it that Google is going to renounce 7-inchers and take up 8-inch tablets instead. This decision has been motivated due to disappointing sales coming from the Nexus 7.

On top of that, demand for 7-inchers isn't what it was in its glory days. More and more phablets with increasingly larger and more accommodating screens are being launched on the market, subsequently prompting tablet makers to increase screen sizes.

Therefore, the next-gen Nexus 7 is widely believed to actually be the Nexus 8. Below we have compiled a list of all rumors that have appeared online, shedding bits and pieces of light upon Google’s upcoming product.

Manufacturer

ASUS has been hinted to be continuing the partnership initiated with Google with the first Nexus 7 model, but that’s not something set in stone. Google has been known to work with others, when it comes to its Nexus line up. For example, the Nexus 5 (and Nexus 4) is LG-made while the larger Nexus 10 slate has been produced by Samsung.

At this point, Samsung is an unlikely candidate for the job, even if the tech giant has repeatedly stated it plans to focus more on tablets this year.

However, Sammy has given no indication of making any plans for a next-gen Nexus 10, so it is a pretty wild stretch to claim the company will jump ships and take up the Nexus 8 instead. Bottom line, ASUS appears to be here to stay, at least in the Nexus 7/8 garden.

Processor

The latest information claimed the Nexus 8 would pack a 64-bit freshly pressed Intel Moorefield processor under the hood. The new chip architecture saw the light of day at MWC 2014 and is scheduled to become available somewhere in the second half of 2014.

The Nexus 8 has also been said to be coming with Intel’s popular Bay Trail platform, but since the chip architecture in combination with Android appears to be under scrutiny at the moment, the Moorefield theory makes more sense.

The next-gen Nexus 7 is expected to arrive in June
The next-gen Nexus 7 is expected to arrive in June

RAM

Advancing on the assumption that the Nexus 8 could be powered by the Moorefield platform means we could probably be looking at some serious RAM horse-power going under the hood.

Moorefield is said to be supporting up to 4GB of LPDDR3 at 800MHz. Will Google take advantage of that? Highly unlikely if the search giant wants to keep the prices affordable.

Storage

Moorefield is expected to support up to 256GB, but we won’t be seeing that on the real-life Nexus 8. Again, to cut down the retail cost of the device, customers will probably see the Nexus 8 arrive with 32GB or 64GB choices. Currently, both Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 offer 16GB and 32GB options (+ an extra 8GB for the Nexus 7).

Software

Word on the street has it that the Nexus 8 will be announced alongside Android 4.5 at the Google I/O in late June. This piece of information, of course, makes us wonder whether the Nexus 8 will come with the new version of Android pre-installed on it. For us, it makes sense that it will.

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Nexus 8 could be manufactured by ASUS
The next-gen Nexus 7 is expected to arrive in June
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