October is definitely Nexus season and the rumours are flying thick and fast. Specs, launch and release dates and now prices are being thrown around, with Bright Side of News reporting all four pieces of information have been confirmed by their source.
According to BSN, the HTC built Nexus 9 will be announced on the 15th of October, before becoming available on the 3rd of November in Google Play (no mention of international availability). BSN do mention the tablet will go on-sale in Bricks & Mortar stores, which would presumably be in the US, although Australia saw quite a run on the Nexus 7 here in Australia. The larger screened Nexus 10 however, saw slower sales and a number of JB Hifi stores still have the tablet on shelves.
Pricing wise, BSN have apparently been advised the 8.9″ device will go on-sale for US$399 which would obviously attract a shipping charge on-top. This equates to around AU$459 but with ‘Australia tax’, you should probably budget in $499 if you’re in the market for a new tablet.
The specs are somewhat more nebulous, with BSN only speculating on the processor which they advise WILL be the Nvidia Tegra K1, but uncertainty still surrounds which one. According to BSN there is uncertainty as to whether this will be the 32-bit NVidia Tegra K1 we’ve currently seen in devices already – including the NVidia Shield tablet and Acer Chromebooks – or the 64-Bit ‘Denver’ processor they’ve teased since the launch in January. To support their 64-bit hopes, BSN has pointed to blog posts in which Nvidia claim ‘And for hard-core Android fans, take note that we’re already developing the next version of Android – “L” – on the 64-bit Tegra K1.’
With October 15th less than a week away, we should know soon. If the launch is US time (and why wouldn’t it be), we should expect to see information next Friday morning here in Australia, so make sure you’re up early.
Definitely not worth $500 ($520 shipped)…and taking into account that so far its expected to have 16gb and 32gb,,,it is really disappointing.
Considering that a Tab S 10.5 16gb has been to $471 at Dick Smith, this really decreases the worth of this Nexus
The iPad mini retina is $479 for the 16GB model and $598 for the 32GB model (official pricing from apples online store). What’s the big deal if the N9 is $499 and $549? That makes it 20 bucks more for the smaller capacity or $50 LESS for the 32GB model.
Yikes, that’ll probably mean it’ll be closer to $499-550 from the Australian Playstore!
Far, far, far too expensive
Nexus 7 was $229. I don’t care how overpowered the processor is, I don’t care how ungainly the 4:3 screen is – the maximum you could go to is $299. The ipad mini starts at that price.
In reality, with the softness of the tablet market, they should be aiming at less than $250.
The Nexus 7 was a little tablet with mid range specs. This is a big tablet with high end specs. Of course it’s going to cost more.
Why are you comparing it to the iPad mini? Of course it will be more expensive than that. Mini is in the same range as the Nexus 7. This tablet is closer to the full iPad.
It may sit half way between the mini and maxi ipads in screen size – but I’ll bet it will be (and it has been) compared against the mini ipad.
Which is sensible, since if it were a replacement for the nexus 10 you’d expect the nexus 7 to continue. It’s also sensible since the market is much more towards the more reasonable size, reasonable price ipad mini end of things.
The Nvidia Shield at $299 is also a comparison point.
$399 is just far too expensive, particularly for a Nexus device.
I disagree. If it’s going to contain cutting edge technology, we’ll have to pay a little premium. It doesn’t look like that Google will be massively subsiding this product like they did with the Nexus 7. I think we’ve got a little spoilt with paying a low price for a great device (Nexus 7) that we expect that to continue onto the Nexus 9.
As I just said in a new post if 399US works out to $499AU that’s only 20 bucks more than the iPad mini and with apples price gouging for memory capacity increases the 32GB model will end up considerably cheaper than the mini equivalent.
Size, aspect ratio and a number of other sites when rumouring about the N9 have suggested it will be priced similarly to the iPad Mini Retina.
US$399? Suddenly I don’t feel so bad for paying US$299 for my Shield Tablet.
That must be the 2012 model pricing or the US pricing. The Australian release price, which is still the current price, on the current model Nexus 7 was/is $299AU for the 16GB model, $339AU for the 32GB model and $439 for the 32GB with LTE model.