The HTC ‘Volantis’ is the company’s 8.9-inch aluminum Nexus tablet

The fate of the Nexus line of devices has been up in the air for sometime now due to rumors of the Android Silver program and an LG executive saying that his company had no plans on manufacturing the next Nexus device. Android Police, however, has now published information regarding an upcoming Nexus tablet. According to the report, Google and HTC have teamed up to develop the next Nexus tablet, dubbed the Volantis. The device has an 8.9-inch screen and looks to potentially replace the Nexus 10.

Internally, the tablet is reportedly referred to as the Nexus 9, although it’s possible that the name will change before the device is released. In terms of specs, the Nexus 9 is packing an 8.9-inch 2,048 x 1,440 display. That comes out to 281 pixels-per-inch. The device is powered by an NVIDIA Logan 64-bit processor, also known as the Tegra K1, paired with 2GB of RAM. It will be available in 16GB and 32GB varieties.

• NVIDIA Logan 64-bit processor (Tegra K1)
• 2GB RAM
• 16/32GB internal storage
• 8MP OIS main camera, 3MP front facing camera
• Aluminum zero-gap construction
• Stereo front-facing speakers
• 8.91″x5.98″x0.31″ body
• 418g (or 427g with LTE)

As with most recent HTC devices, design was a strong focus for the company with the Volantis. It features an all-aluminum, zero-gap build that is 481 grams heavy and .31-inches thick. That makes it slimmer and lighter than the current-gen Nexus 7 and thicker and heavier than the recently announced Galaxy Tab S 8.4.

In terms of price, Android Police claims that the 16GB model will run $399, while the 32GB will cost $499. LTE connectivity will be available at a still undetermined higher price. The Volantis is expected to be released in Q4 of this year, alongside the “L” version of Android. The device will not launch at Google I/O this week.

Android Police says that it is incredibly confident in the specs of this tablet, as well as the promise of an all-aluminum, gapless design. There is some uncertainty, however, in the leaked design image. The blog believes that it may be an early draft and not final. Again, the confidence in the specs is incredibly high.