Leaked Nvidia Tegra Tab photos reveal 7-inch tablet

A new set of leaked photos have recently surfaced for a tablet allegedly called Tegra Tab, indicating Nvidia has something other than a Microsoft Surface successor up its sleeve.

The Tegra Tab, according to the leaked photos, looks like a 7-inch tablet with a very Asus-like design and textured back. The tablet also features a stylus slot, micro-HDMI port, standard 3.5-mm audio jack, power button, volume rocker and rear camera. Nvidia filed a trademark for "Tegra Tab" in the US in April.

SlashGear claimed the leaked Tegra Tab could be a version of a developer unit that it saw working with handheld game console Nvidia Shield, and it further speculated the Tegra Tab could include a near-stock iteration of Android. Google's new Nexus 7 doesn't feature a Tegra chip, but rather Qualcomm, so SlashGear also assumed that Nvidia is investing in hardware as a way to promote its Tegra chips.

Read: Nvidia CEO: We are working really hard on Surface 2

Nvidia has previously said that its strategy on Android is to enable quad-core tablets running Android to be developed and brought to market for just $199, and it was doing this with a platform called Kai. Rob Csonger, Nvidia's vice-president, specifically said Kai uses "a lot of the secret sauce that's inside Tegra 3," thus allowing manufacturers to develop a tablet at a much lower cost.

Google and Asus used Kai when developing the original, low-cost Nexus 7. However, Nvidia's Tegra 4 - a SoC and Tegra 3 successor announced in January - isn't taking off quite as expected. The new Nexus 7 doesn't house Tegra 4, as mentioned earlier, and even Asus chose Intel over Nvidia when making its Fonepad.

That said, during an earnings call on Friday, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang spoke of a Nvidia platform that didn't do as well as hoped. He didn't name the platform, but he did say the company is working on a follow-up to the Microsoft Surface. The original Surface also sported a Tegra processor.

While there is a confirmation from Nvidia on a Surface 2, there's is no official word from the company on the legitimacy of the Tegra Tab. We've contacted Nvidia for a comment on these leaked photos and will update when more information becomes available.

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