Google is going to launch Nexus 8 this year instead of a Nexus 7 refresh and the decision is primarily driven by monetary factors including the heavily crowded 7-inch tablet segment with low price bands.
Google launched two Nexus 7 variants – one in June 2012 and the other in July 2013 – both in collaboration with Asustek. The 2012 version of Nexus 7 managed to garner huge sales numbers, but the 2013 variant wasn’t able to match those numbers with just 3 million in cumulative sales.
Analysts and Google’s upstream supply chain members are of the opinion that the primary reason behind the lacklustre performance of the new Nexus 7 was the launch of multiple 7-inch tablets from other vendors and that too at lower price points. Increased sales of 6-inch phablets may have also played their part.
According to a report on DigiTimes Google will stick with Asustek as its OEM for manufacture of its next tablet, but will avoid the price competition from 7-inch tablets as well as 6-inch phablets by launching Nexus 8.
