Second-gen Nexus 7 with HD display may be revealed at Google I/O

Word is, Google will announce a second-generation Nexus 7 tablet with an HD screen at the annual Google I/O in May. According to rumours, the tablet will once again be manufactured by Asus. The resolution is rumoured to go up from the present 1280 x 800 pixels to a super dense, but strange 1728 x 1080 pixels, or the more conventional 1920 x 1080. The new tablet is also touted to sport a different design with a thinner bezel, a la the iPad mini, and is also likely to be lighter than the 340gm first-generation model. Software-wise, the new Nexus 7 will ship with Jelly Bean. This could change by the time Google I/O comes around, when the device is expected to be unveiled.

Digitimes reports that the price of the new 7-inch tablet will be the same as that of the first-generation model—between $199 to $249. The publication has apparently received information from sources who have seen recently-released engineering samples of Google's second-generation 7-inch tablet. Besides a bump in the display resolution, the new Nexus 7's specifications will also be upgraded.

The next-gen Nexus 7 will also be manufactured by Asus

The report states that the combined shipments of the company's Nexus 7 (both first and second generation) are expected to reach 10 million units in 2013, based on estimates by suppliers. The first-generation Nexus 7, which was manufactured by Asus, has been an immensely popular tablet thanks to its quad-core processor and sub-$200 price tag. In Japan, the tablet has surpassed the iPad as the most popular tablet. The tablet is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset, has 1GB of RAM and a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.2GHz. It runs Jelly Bean (Android 4.2.1) and is available in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G options. It is available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB variants, and comes equipped with an NFC chip.

Google is also planning a refresh for the Nexus 10, the 10-inch tablet manufactured by Samsung. The tablet will get its processor upgraded from the existing Exynos 5 dual-core chipset to a more beefy multi-core SoC. Bright Side of News reports that the GPU will be refreshed too—the Mali-T604 being replaced by an 8-core Mali-T628 GPU. The Nexus 10 already has a Full HD screen, with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, and a pixel density of 300 pixels per inch (ppi). It was also the first tablet to be launched with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.