A whole bunch of sites like Liliputing reported yesterday that leaker extraordinaire Evan Blass revealed Huawei was working on a 7" tablet for Google.
It's due out this year, and will have 4GB of RAM, but that is about all we know at this time:
Google's Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 5, 2016
We all know that Evan Blass is practically infallible when it comes to leaks, but I for one think that this new device (and I do agree it is coming) is more likely to be a phablet than a tablet.
Remember, the tablet market is shrinking. IDC estimated that global tablet shipments dropped 12% last quarter, and that trend can only continue. That decline has been a long time coming; depending on who you ask, global tablet shipments peaked in late 2014.
I think it peaked even earlier, in 2013, only we didn't see a decline in sales because all the device makers shifted downmarket and started making cheaper tablets.
To name one example, Amazon's cheapest tablet cost $139 in 2013, $99 in 2014, and $49 in 2015.
Apparently Google thought the market had peaked as well, which is why they released a Nexus tablet in 2012 and 2013, but never released a third model.
And now they're supposed to be launching a new 7" tablet?
In a market where prices are less than half what they were in 2013?
I don't think so.
This is more likely a phablet - a smartphone with a 7" screen. And if it is not a phablet then it will be some other device which happens to have a 7" screen.
Home automation is really hot right now, so this could be some type of controller for a smart house.
But it's not a tablet.
image by shann.s.yu
A 7″ phone, wow. Phones are going back to massive size again.
That sounds reasonable to me. having owned a Huawei Mediapad X2 7″ Phablet I can see Huawei building something like this for Google.
It’s good if there is good replacement for my aging Sony Xperia Z Ultra (6.4″ phablet)
Huawei already has the Honor Note 8, a 6.6-inch AMOLED phablet and the Mediapad M3 a 8.4-inch tablet that could easily become a phone. Plus Asus has the Zenfone 3 Ultra, a 6.8-inch phablet. I think a world of 7-inch phones is already upon us.
I bought a 7 in samsung phablet and don’t think I will ever be happy with a smaller screen. Does the job for this old man, I can see the screen.