Google Nexus 9 By HTC Draws Near, NVIDIA Tegra K1 And Android L On Board
It looks as though the rumored Nexus 9 tablet is indeed in the works and will be manufactured by HTC, a company that has largely avoided the competitive tablet game. Although neither Google nor HTC have officially revealed the Android tablet, The Wall Street Journal is reporting confirmation from its sources that Google chose HTC instead of its longtime tablet-building partner, Samsung. Add that to NVIDIA’s inadvertent outing of HTC as the Nexus 9 maker in a legal document, and HTC’s involvement in the Nexus 9 looks solid.
The HTC One is proof that HTC can create a winner. Now we'll see if its smartphone chops translate to building a great tablet.
HTC executives have apparently been flying in to Google’s headquarters to discuss the upcoming Nexus 9, which will be the first tablet from HTC since its ill-fated HTC Flyer petered out in 2011. However, the Flyer’s lackluster sales performance and HTC’s inexperience with building tablets (compared to the likes of Samsung, which has built other Nexus tablets) doesn’t mean that HTC can’t pull off a winner with the Nexus 9. The company has been producing solid smartphones, including the HTC One.
Obviously, specs on the Nexus 9 aren’t official, but at the moment, the NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC is expected to power the tablet, which will likely run the new Android L operating system. Google likes to give its Nexus devices first crack at the latest version of Android, which makes Android L the likely choice. The screen will be 8.9 inches, with a native resolution or 2048x1440. The Nexus 9’s size falls smack in between the Nexus 7 and 10 tablets, though it’s not clear whether it’s price will also land evenly between the two older Nexus tablets.
