Nexus 7 2 release date UK: Asus confirm 28 August
The Nexus 7 2, or 2nd generation Nexus 7 as it is also known, will launch in the UK on 28 August, Asus has confirmed to Pocket-lint. The UK release date comes just one month after the US launch, but ahead of previous suggestions by retailers in the UK...
Context & Ripple Effects
The original Nexus 7 had established a meaningful UK retail presence, including a £199.99 32GB Argos listing, while Asus said sales were approaching one million units a month in October 2012. That gives the refresh a proven installed retail channel rather than a first-market test.
An April report had pointed to a July debut for the second-generation model; Asus’s UK timetable clarifies how that launch is being sequenced across markets. Asus is also confirmed to manufacture the upcoming Nexus 10 refresh, making the company Google’s hardware partner across both tablet sizes.
First-order effects
- UK buyers and retailers have a fixed 28 August availability date for the Nexus 7 2, ending uncertainty around the local launch window.
- Asus takes responsibility for delivering Google’s refreshed 7-inch tablet into the UK after the US launch.
Second-order effects
- The month-long US-to-UK gap makes launch sequencing a channel issue for UK retailers, which can align inventory and promotions to Asus’s confirmed date rather than earlier retailer expectations.
Third-order effects
- Asus’s work on both the Nexus 7 refresh and the confirmed Nexus 10 refresh points to Google concentrating tablet execution with a manufacturing partner already associated with the first Nexus 7’s volume.
The trend: Google’s Nexus tablet strategy is becoming a repeat-partner hardware model, with Asus carrying successive products into regional retail launches.