All signs are pointing to HTC manufacturing Google's upcoming Nexus 9 and a new report suggests the Android L-equipped tablet will launch on Oct. 16.
HTC has faced a bumpy road in the mobile world over the last few years but it seems like things are finally starting to turn around. The company got its start building and designing some of the most popular PDAs and smartphones, like Palm's iconic Treo 650 and Compaq's iPaq Windows-based Pocket PC, before branching out on its own.
HTC's expertise and attention to detail caught the eye of Google. The search company contracted with HTC to build the first Android smartphone in 2008, the T-Mobile G1. When Google decided to enter the smartphone market with the launch of the Nexus One in 2010, it once again partnered with HTC. It now appears the two companies will again join forces on the highly anticipated Nexus 9 tablet.
Google hasn't released a new Nexus tablet since the second-generation Nexus 7 in 2013 and Nexus fans have been waiting patiently for some fresh new hardware. According to MoDaCo founder Paul O'Brien, who has a proven track record with reporting unannounced hardware, the HTC-built Nexus 9 will launch Oct. 16.
HTC has already scheduled a press event for Oct. 8 and the company is widely expected to announce a standalone camera and a pair of smartphones; the HTC One M8 Eye and HTC Eye. If the Nexus 9 launch date is correct, HTC is gearing up for a very busy October.
We've already seen leaked images of an official HTC Nexus 9 keyboard case that will serve double duty in protecting the tablet while also allowing users to be more productive with a physical keyboard.
The Nexus 9 is expected to feature a 9-inch 2560 x 1600 display and will be the first device to ship with Google's next-generation Android L OS. The tablet is expected to include a powerful 2.3 GHz quad-core 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and have 3 GB of RAM. It's expected to ship versions with either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot that will support up to 128-GB microSD cards.
As always, it's best to take rumors of unannounced devices with a grain of salt, but all signs are pointing to a mid-October Nexus 9 launch to coincide with the release of Android L. We'll of course keep you posted on all Nexus news as it happens.
