Rumors are once again running rampant in the tech blogosphere that Google is working with Asus to produce a new lower priced version of the Nexus 7, which will target a $99 price point and could be introduced during next month's Consumer Electronics Show. The new lower priced N7 will reportedly have slightly lower brow features than the standard Nexus 7, possibly with a screen resolution of 1280 x 600(although the above image seems to say 1280 x 720), but feature a thinner design and Glass-Film-Film (GFF) technology from O-Film Tech which will lower costs as well as aid in thinness.
Now the 'sources' speculate that it might be hard to actually release the new lower priced N7 at $99 due to constraints in the supply chain for components so the initial price might be $129 or $149 with the eventual goal to get down to that $99 price point. They also predict that any release would actually target 'emerging markets' with an initial order of about 500,000-600,000 units. This makes it seem unclear if it would hit the U.S. or europe and perhaps might be targeted at India, asia and other markets such as Africa and South America where a lower cost device would be necessary. Of course all of the above is just speculation for now, but the image above which was uncovered by 'The Digital Reader' shows EXIF data from what appears to be a new model # 7 inch tablet that appears to support the Digitimes report.
Now despite all the rumors and hype...our own personal opinion is that despite the rumors the above image might be a non-Nexus device that will be a low end tablet released by Asus in emerging markets but without the Nexus branding. Now of course until there's an official announcement, we're just reading tea leaves but if it does turn out to be a Nexus device it'll be very interesting.
Digitimes
