Google will reportedly be refreshing its 7-inch tablet this year. With the reports that the company will be shifting its product lineup, it is said that instead of a new 2016 Nexus 7 tablet, the new slate will come under the Pixel lineup.
According to noted tipster Evan Blass, Google is releasing a new 7-inch tablet before the year ends. The new slate will be manufactured by Huawei. It is expected that the upcoming tablet will be a flagship iteration since the supposed leak mentioned the device getting a 4-GB RAM.
However, glaringly absent from Blass' supposed leak is a confirmation of the new gadget being a follow-up to the Google Nexus 7 tablet, as the tipster only noted it to be "Google's Huawei-built 7-inch tablet." This may be a hint that, instead of a 2016 Nexus 7 edition, Google will be introducing the device as part of the Pixel lineup.
It is more likely that this will happen, given the speculations that Google will be shifting its flagship focus for late 2016 releases. Reportedly, the tech giant has already decided on this direction for their 2016 flagship smartphone launches. The previously-rumored 2016 Google Nexus devices, co-manufactured with HTC, will supposedly be rebranded as the Google Pixel and Pixel XL. The former is the previously reported HTC Sailfish with a 5.0-inch screen, while the Pixel XL will be the HTC Marlin with a 5.5-inch display.
Meanwhile, aside from the 4GB of RAM, other purported details on the new Google gadget have already surfaced online. As a flagship device, the new slate will feature a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 7-inch AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, and a base 64 GB of onboard storage. It is expected that, although the new slate will carry flagship specs, it will also offer a competitive price tag (a signature Nexus 7 feature), given that Huawei is its manufacturer.
