8GB Nexus 7 about to be phased out?

8GB Nexus 7 about to be phased out?
The Nexus 7 - about to get more storage?

It seems the 8GB Nexus 7 is about to be shown the door, according to the Google Play Store.

The official purchase portal for the Asus-made tablet is showing the 8GB offering as 'coming soon' – which is usually positive-speak-code for 'we don't have any in right now'.

And with the strong rumours flying around that a 32GB version of the Nexus 7 is being announced on Monday, the word is the 8GB option will be thrown out and replaced with the 16GB offering, thus making the Google tablet world that much more attractive.

Same price, more storage

The even better news (from the rumour world, so may not be fully accurate, of course) is that the prices of the Nexus 7 will remain the same. This means we'll see a 32GB Nexus 7 coming in at £150 (around AUS$232 / $180) cheaper than the iPad mini, and will give users a real conundrum come Christmas time.

The new tablets will also be imbued with the latest version of Android, in the shape of 4.2 (although this will be still known as Jelly Bean) so users will have a new reason to be picking up the dinky wonder.

And let's be honest: 8GB is pointless for an HD tablet. Throw a few larger apps on there, some powerful games, a bit of music and you won't even have space for an HD movie, which is slightly ridiculous in this day and age.

We've spoken to Google about this, but our question has as yet gone unanswered – so we'd advise holding fire if your loved one has asked for a Nexus 7 for Christmas unless you want to get them some last-gen technology. You don't, trust us.

From Talk Android

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.