Google's Nexus tablet a "done deal" at $149

Eric Schmidt revealed back in December that Google were working on a Nexus tablet, and that they would have it ready to go within six months. After that, rumors swirled that ASUS would be providing the tablet with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and that it would come in at just $199. Now, new information suggests that Google has ditched Tegra 3 support, and is aiming to price the tablet even lower.Android and Me cites a source at a supply chain company who say that the Nexus tablet is a "done deal", with Google contracting ASUS to build the tablet. The MeMo 370T that was shown off at CES 2012 has apparently been scrapped as a result. The Nexus tablet will still come in at 7-inches.

So why has Tegra 3 been dropped? According to the leaks, it's to keep prices down, as Google are now targeting the Nexus tablet for a price point between $149 to $199 in order to stave off other low cost tablets. Having the latest and greatest processor would thwart attempts to keep the price low. There's no word on what processor will take the reigns.

The ASUS MeMo 370T was shown off briefly at CES 2012 during Nvidia's Tegra 3 announcement, with ASUS saying that tablet would come in at a low $250. Other specs included a 7-inch 1280x800 IPS display, 1GB of RAM, and an eight megapixel camera, all running on Ice Cream Sandwich.