Google to sell second-gen Nexus 7 tablet from July: sources
(Reuters) - Google Inc will launch a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet powered by Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon processor around July, two sources told Reuters, as the software giant pushes deeper into the cut-price mobile hardware market.
Context & Ripple Effects
The first Nexus 7 launched in June 2012 at a headline $199 price running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and within weeks Google's tablet was selling fast across retail chains — enough that the company briefly asked retailers to halt sales to manage supply. A follow-up was therefore expected; what is new in this report is the timing (around July) and the silicon swap.
Two sources tell Reuters the second-generation model will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor rather than the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip inside the original, though both the July window and the Snapdragon claim are unconfirmed. The story travelled widely on pickup day, with Engadget, The Verge, The Next Web and Phones Review all carrying it — a sign of how much attention the cheap-Android-tablet category now commands.
First-order effects
- If the Snapdragon report holds, Nvidia loses the flagship Android reference tablet it has owned since 2012, while Qualcomm adds a marquee, high-volume design win in the sub-$250 segment it has not anchored before.
Second-order effects
- An annualized Nexus 7 cadence pressures Amazon's Kindle Fire line and other budget Android tablets to match refreshed specs at the same price point, squeezing margins across the cut-price tier.
- Component suppliers beyond the application processor — displays, memory, wireless — compete for slots in a device whose volumes are set by Google's willingness to sell near cost.
Third-order effects
- Google treating the Nexus line as a yearly, low-margin reference device points toward hardware functioning as ecosystem infrastructure — priced to move software and services rather than to earn a hardware margin — which structurally disadvantages rivals who need devices to be profitable.
The trend: Android tablets are settling into an annual refresh cycle where Google sets the price-and-spec benchmark and silicon vendors like Qualcomm and Nvidia fight over the reference design.