ASUS to benefit from launch of the next-gen Google Nexus 7 in its third quarter

With the next-gen version of the Google Nexus 7 expected to be launched around the end of this month, sources from the upstream supply chain are saying that the manufacturer of that slate, ASUS, will see its third quarter numbers reflect the pick up in sales of the popular 7 inch Android tablet. A leaked Best Buy flyer shows that the tablet will be available a week from today with some changes.

The Tegra 3 is out, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is in. Thinner bezels are in fashion this year and we should see the next-gen Nexus 7 introduced on Wednesday. It looks like the 16GB variant will be priced at $229.99. The 7 inch low-priced section of the tablet market has been a successful niche of the market ever since the Amazon Kindle Fire planted its flag on the territory.

Originally, ASUS had hoped to launch the next-gen Google Nexus 7 in May, which would have helped buff up Q2 numbers. But Google was worried about the low inventory levels of the first-gen slab and shipments of the new Nexus 7 were delayed. ASUS is forecast to ship 12 million tablets in 2013 with 7 million of them being both versions of the Google Nexus 7 combined. In the second quarter of this year, the company shipped 2.7 million tablets, down 10% on a sequential basis.

source: DigiTimes