Nexus 7 (2013) - Mini Review
At an event in San Francisco, Google announced an updated version of the popular Nexus 7 tablet which first appeared at last year's Google I/O. The big new features update the Nexus 7 platform with inclusion of a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) SoC …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's tablet reference line just hit its first refresh cycle: the original $199 Nexus 7 debuted at Google I/O in June 2012 running Jelly Bean, and after Reuters reported in April that a second-gen model was slated for July, the company confirmed a thinner, lighter rebuild with a higher-resolution screen at its San Francisco event this week. The Verge's hands-on covered the hardware and Android 4.3 debut on July 24; AnandTech's mini review is the first performance-focused look, centered on the move to a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064).
The story matters because the price moved up to $230 rather than holding the sub-$200 anchor, and because the pickup was unusually broad — Forbes and the Associated Press ran it alongside the usual Android trade outlets, signaling the Nexus 7 has crossed into mainstream consumer-hardware news.
First-order effects
- Buyers deciding this week face a direct trade-off: the new Nexus 7 ships July 30th for $230, $31 above the 2012 launch price, in exchange for the higher-res display and Snapdragon S4 Pro.
- Android 4.3 lands first on this device, making the Nexus 7 the de facto showcase for the platform update Google shipped alongside it.
Second-order effects
- Qualcomm's S4 Pro takes the flagship slot in Google's reference tablet, giving Qualcomm the marquee Android-tablet design win at exactly the moment competitors like Amazon's Fire line and Apple's iPad mini must decide whether to match specs or hold price points.
- A $230 Nexus compresses the gap to larger premium tablets, pressuring rivals' mid-tier pricing just ahead of the back-to-school buying window.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — an annual mid-summer Nexus refresh paired with the yearly Android release — Google's reference hardware becomes a fixed calendar event that sets the baseline spec and price the rest of the Android tablet market prices against, even as Google nudges that baseline upward from $199.
The trend: Google's Nexus program is settling into an annual refresh rhythm that anchors Android tablet specs and pricing for the whole ecosystem each summer.