Yesterday Apple fired out invites for next week’s not-so mystery announcement. It’s fairly evident that the company will launch the oft-rumoured iPad mini, but if you’re worried that it might be a bit out of your Christmas price range, there’s good news afoot: an even cheaper version of the Google Nexus 7 could be just around the corner.

While Asus has denied that it’s involved in a cut-price Nexus 7, new reports from Digitimes suggest that Google’s handed manufacturing duties over to Quanta, in order to keep things cheap.

As such, we’re looking at a tab with the bare minimum built inside; an ARM-architecture single-core processor will take care of the Jelly Bean antics, and there’ll be a less-shiny HUVA TN display.

And a 32GB Nexus 7, too?

But, if this all proves to be true, that corner cutting would allow the budget Nexus 7 to weigh in at the $99 (£60) mark.

With the iPad mini expected to sell for at least £200, Google will know that it has to clean up at the bottom end of the 7-inch tablet market.

Would you be keen on a £60 Nexus 7? Or have you only got eyes for the iPad mini? Let us know below.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/bixbarton Chris Butcher

    A £60 Nexus 7? It’ll sell like hot-cakes! If they get this out in time for Xmas people won’t even notice the iPad Mini arriving.

    • Klesk Antonus

      Price will only do somuch, if Apple are involved it’s a battle of marketeers I’m afraid, and Apple will win.

      • Anonymous

        Doubt it very much. Apple are suing left right and centre and it is hurting the morons. They are too f**king stupid – forgot that they stole from so many sources. Apple only have a few cretins who will queue for days to buy anything Apple – even a cardboard box. Android outsells by a huge ratio and it is better by far. Only the ‘keep up with the Jones’s buy Apple because they can’t contend with technology.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Copperwaite/556260563 Richard Copperwaite

    A £60 tablet of that calibre?! I can’t help but wonder if this is the first sign that we’re entering the age of “disposable computing”?

    • Pauly

      Where have you been? The IPhones are proof we have already entered the disposable computing era…. My Iphone 3g is 3 years old and yet it is ‘ancient’ since upgrades have come out almost every six months!
      You are right… and we are already there and more.. with phones and tablets

  • Zuzu

    can’t see a decent tablet costing less than 100, either it’ll cost more than 60 or the specs & performance will be rubbish, of course I’d love to be proven wrong…

    • James

      see my post further up – it’s surprising what you can get these days. The likes of Cube, Yuandao and Ainol are producing decent kit thesedays (most notably Ainol – the Aurora 2 and Crystal products, and to a lesser extent the Fire/Flame/Burning are amazing for the £) and are starting to think about Western customers.

  • http://twitter.com/jonathonpm Jonathon Marks

    If it wil be $99 I would say it it is going to be nearer £99 than £60 but at £99 it is a bragain and would definitely buy it.

  • Dave

    A nexus 7 would never cost £60, take into consideration tax and the usual transatlantic charges – it’s more likely to cost £120. If Apple do manage an iPad at £200, then any Nexus 7 stripped down device would find it hard to compete.

    • Anonymous

      The Nexus has already clobbered the pathetic Apple – all Apple can manage is to sue look alikes – so it has to claw back millions because it is a greedy company and pretty useless. The Nexus 7 runs rings around iCrap but there are still pathetic sheep who queue for 48 hours to part with their cash. I would never buy anything Apple – it is overpriced, locked and generally shit (as in mapping software). Apple actually impedes progress.

      • http://www.facebook.com/ashley.mole.33 Ashley Mole

        your right mate i have all apple products but got a android tablet `£40 brand new just like ipad just as good and il never go back to applee all they do is put a 0 on the end so id rather spend 40 a tablet than 400 on ipad

        • race to the bottom

          LOL ! sarcasm noted ! :-)

  • http://twitter.com/Patrick_J73 Patrick

    I own a WM8850 that cost £60 from ebay. its has a 1.2ghz arm9 via wm8850 cpu and Mali 400 gpu. 512mb ram and runs ics. The lcd is only 800*480, but @ 7″ its not to bad, its nippy and does most things people want, So it is possible to do it.
    And its got mini hdmi put and usb host with a full size usb port. And front facing camera. It can run nova 3 too

  • Scorpion42

    You get what you pay for in the tech industry and cheap is acquainted with rubbish.

  • Sundat

    I dont know why ppl think that they always want a HD display tablet for doing day to day things….being cheaper doesnt mean that it will be a junk….there are days when we have lived happily with 800×600 resolution screens without any complaint..

  • cashxx

    Sorry, would rather have the iPad instead of its knockoff…..

    • Anonymous

      Sad and pathetic. I imagine you would stand in line for 48 hours for an Apple cardboard box. Do you ever wonder why Android outsells iCrap by 5:1?

      • Pauly

        Careful… a lot of the Chinese cheap android tablets have quality problems. You roll the dice. I am not an Apple fanboy, but apple hardware is superior and yes you pay for it

  • James

    There have been decent dirt-cheap options available for a while already.
    Stick Ainol Crystal into your search engine of choice.
    You can get one inc delivery, for about £75.
    There is good community/developer support for them (look on Slatedroid) and performance stands up well to the £169 version of the Nexus 7. Difference being no GPS/NFC/Bluetooth inbuilt (which I doubt this £60 version will have and are supported with an OTG cable anyway) but has HDMI out, microSD slot, decent 1.5g dual core SoC and a superb screen.
    Waiting for a cheap Nexus 7? – they’ve been here for months.

  • mooper

    Even at $150, the 8GB Nexus 7 would crush iPad Mini potential. The specs will likely be very close, and if you’re on the cloud, 8GB doesn’t hamper much. If you want to expand memory, it’s easy to do so cheaply and externally.Why pay twice as much for an iPad Mini that doesn’t really give you any advantages?

  • Dave

    I’ve got the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 and they just work beautifully. Before upgrading to iPhone 5, I considered an android, but there were no try before you buy options.
    I would love to go android but for me it’s an unknown quantity. However £60, makes it doable for me.
    Google if you do it, I’ll buy it. And if it’s as good as or better than apple, then say goodbye to idevices

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