MWC 2014: What to Expect As far as Tablets Are Concerned

We’re just a week away from MWC 2014 kick-starting in Barcelona and a lot of brand vendors are expected to be present at the location to show off their latest products. Not all will be launching tablets, but based on the rumors we have seen appearing online, at least Samsung, Sony and Huawei will pull the veil off new slate models. Let’s do a quick round up.

ASUS

ASUS went all out at CES 2014 when it launched the amazing dual-boot 4-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrid, the Transformer Book Duet. On top of that, it pushed out the VivoTab Note 8 business tablet, so what will it showcase at MWC?

Most likely, we’re going to be able to take a sneak peek at the budget Transformer Pad TF701T with Android, which has recently launched on the Taiwanese market.

Last month, we also spotted a 8-inch ASUS tablet with Android and Bay Trail, but we haven’t heard anything of it ever since, so Barcelona might be a good place to announce it.

Samsung

If Samsung amazed and dazzled at CES 2014, with its premium bunch of Galaxy TabPRO and NotePRO slates, at MWC the Korean tech giant is going to keep things cooler.

Sammy will most likely bring out the refresh Galaxy Tab 4 line which includes 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch models. Sadly, the specifications are quite unimpressive, as they will be offering a pretty bland resolution (1,280 x 800) but at least they will run Android 4.4. KitKat out of the box.

Besides that, the rumors about Samsung’s AMOLED tablets won’t die away, but nothing about them has been spotted as of late. Apparently, Sammy will be kick-starting production of 8-inch and 10-inch AMOLED screen soon (February / March), so it’s highly unlikely we’ll see something at MWC 2014.

Sony

We currently have serious indication that Sony will be presenting the next-gen Xperia Tablet Z in Barcelona. The specs for the slate have been leaked this week, in anticipation for the event, and detail a faster slate powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 combined with 3GB of RAM and running Android 4.4 KitKat.

There’s the slight possibility that Sony will be bringing the Wi-Fi only Xperia S Ultra 6.4-inch “mini tablet” on the European market, but that’s pretty unclear at the moment.

Huawei

From Huawei, we can expect two tablets at MWC 2014 and that’s a thing we know for sure, because the tech giant has posted its pre-event teaser. We’re probably going to see the iPad mini-killer, the MediaPad X1, which could be compatible with next-gen LTE networks and another sleek and slim product with a huge battery life.

Intel

Different sources have claimed that in Barcelona Intel and certain brand vendors will unveil  new Bay Trail processors for tablets with 64-bit Windows support. More than that, the first batch of Bay Trail-powered Android slates is expected to make an appearance at the same event. A few super affordable Android tablets (under €100 / $137) might also pop up at MWC 2014.

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