Did Google just leak the Nexus 8?

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Published 4 Nov 2013

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Remember how Google accidentally posted a video to YouTube that featured a guy taking a photo with the then unannounced LG Nexus 5? Well, it’s happened again. The search giant with a public relations department that doesn’t seem to respect embargoed information has uploaded some Play Store promotional material that features a woman using a tablet that looks nothing like anything we’ve seen before. It’s got a hint of the Nexus 7 design language, but the bezels are practically nonexistent on the side.

Could this be a photo of a generic black rectangle? Ron Amadeo from Ars.Technica, who I personally have a ton of respect for, offers a theory that Google didn’t use a placeholder in the photo above, but that what you’re looking at could be the actual Nexus 8.

Why would Google come with a Nexus 8? To better compete with the iPad, and to distance the Nexus 7 away from phablets. As someone who owns a 5.5 inch smartphone, I can tell you right now that I have zero interest in a 7.0 inch tablet. Hell, after spending a month with the Mega 6.3 in my pocket, I came to the conclusion that there’s no space in this world for 7.0 inch tablets and that Samsung or Google or whoever should come out with a 5.9 to 6.1 inch phone and call it a day.

Circling back to the Nexus 8, that’s just a theoretical product name. There’s no word on specs, price, release date, anything, so don’t get your panties in a bunch just yet.