Hot on the heels of Nokia’s reveal that it would be bringing WinRT tablets to market in 2013 comes a report from Bloomberg, which states that HTC is working on two devices: a 12-inch tablet, and a 7-inch version that will be able to make phone calls. Both products will reportedly use Windows RT and run on chips provided by Qualcomm.
This is in parallel to word yesterday that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and HTC CEO Peter Chou were meeting to discuss their joint Windows Phone future, though it’s not clear if these Windows RT plans were indeed part of that discussion.
The introduction of a 7-inch Windows RT tablet would give Microsoft a product that could directly compete with the Nexus 7, Apple’s iPad Mini, and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The HTC devices are reportedly set for release in the third quarter of next year.
The company is also said to have considered creating Windows 8-powered devices, but decided that they would be too costly according to the report and HTC has chosen instead to focus on Windows RT only for the time being.