Nexus 9 from HTC might sport Tegra K1

Rumors of HTC returning to tablet manufacturing have been heard a couple of weeks ago, but NVIDIA has spilled the beans on the new Nexus 9 that might be coming from HTC and might be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra K1 CPU.

NVIDIA is currently in the middle of a lawsuit against Samsung and Qualcomm. NVIDIA has charged the two companies with infringing 7 NVIDIA GPU patents. During that lawsuit, NVIDIA leaked that by the end of September, the Nexus 9 will be up and running. That claim seems unlikely, as HTC doesn’t seem to be ready for a Nexus 9 launch. Nonetheless, HTC has sent out invitations for a “double exposure” event on October 8, so we might be surprised by a Nexus 9.  

The Nexus 9 is supposed to be running Android 5.0 (L, Lemon Meringue Pie, Lollipop, Lion, whatever), so an October 8 release is kind of sketchy, because Android 5.0 is rumored to arrive sometime this fall. No actual release date is available yet, but it will probably coincide with the Nexus 9 announcement.

The Nexus 9 has been dubbed Volantis by many, and will sport an 8.9 inch screen with 2048*1440 resolution and 281ppi, 2GB RAM, and HTC’s famous front-facing speakers. It will be available in a 16 GB and a 32 GB version, with no microSD card slot. It will be powered by Quad-core 2.5 GHz Cortex-A15 Nvidia Tegra K1 CPU, hopefully. Reports state that the tablet will cost $399 for the 16GB version, $499 for the 32GB version, while the LTE version will have a price tag of $600.

These specs can still be considered rumors, but the fact that the Nexus 7 is hugely discounted on Amazon at the moment might suggest that the Nexus 9 is approaching its release date. The Nexus 7 32 GB is up for almost half the price it was when it launched, so you might want to get in on the deal.

If we put together all the information above and consider the release of Android 5.0, we can safely deduce, although not necessarily correctly, that the October 8 event HTC is planning might just bring Android enthusiasts what they’ve been waiting for: Nexus 9 with Android L. Well, almost everything we’ve been waiting. I’m more hyped about the Nexus 6 (X, Shamu, 5 2014), but that announcement is just as uncertain. An October release date was speculated for the Nexus 6, though, so factor in the “double exposure” element from HTC. The result? It might just be the Nexus 9, the Nexus 6 and Android 5.0. I really really hope it is.

But, there’s a big but here, if both the Nexus 9 and Nexus 6 would be launched at HTC’s event, that would mean HTC would be making the Nexus 6 and that’s kind of inconsistent with previous rumors saying that either Motorola or LG will be making the Nexus 6. There’s a lot of confusion here and it won’t be cleared until next month. We await more leaks!

What do you think? Is it possible that both the Nexus 9 and Nexus 6 will be announced at HTC’s October 8 “double exposure” event? If so, will they run Android 5.0? (naturally!) Do you think Google chose HTC to make the Nexus 6 over Motorola and LG?  What do you think Android L will be called?