Few people would argue against the comment that the Nexus 7 (2nd generation) tablet was the greatest 7-inch Android tablet ever built. From a price vs. specs vs. value perspective, the Nexus 7 was unmatched. There are millions of users world wide still satisfied with the Nexus 7.
Certainly the rumors and speculation about Asus building the next gen, a 3rd generation 2016 model of the Nexus 7 is not breaking news. It was late in 2015 during an exclusive interview with Jonney Shih which started this discussion. Essentially Shih said “stay tuned” and confirmed that Asus and Google have a lot of ongoing projects. Shih was vague and didn’t come out as say that a new Nexus 7 was coming. He simply didn’t close the door.
If you look at the current state of the tablet market, a boost for Asus by having a new Nexus 7 association would be a worthwhile venture. In a flat tablet market, a Nexus 7 (2016) would likely buck the trend of sagging sales and likely do quite well. Asus put a lot of R&D into their tablets and getting some return on that investment now in 2016 is harder to come by. A Google Nexus 7 will bring with it some brand recognition which is also value added.
Are there any indicators that Asus might be working on a new Nexus 7? It’s a stretch to say but let’s look at the rest of 2016. Asus has refreshed their tablet line-up with a Z380 (8-inch) and Z300M (10-inch) but nothing has been done in the 7-inch category. Coincidence?
What we need to look for now is a FCC submission. If the new Nexus 7 is coming late summer early fall 2016, then July would be the most likely time for a FCC submission. Perhaps even earlier than that. If Google wants to target August, then sometime in June we may see something. If we don’t see a FCC submission, then forget about this all together.
