Asus ME172V found in GLBenchmark, could be the $99 Nexus 7?

Rumors about Asus working on a sub-$100 Nexus tablet, presumably a scaled down variant of its current best seller the Google Nexus 7 have been around for a while now. While Asus had denied these speculations, the rumors continued indicating that the $99 tablet could enter production in December 2012, making way for an early 2013 release.

To add fuel to these rumors, a mysterious and yet unpublished Asus device, model number ME172V has now popped up in a GLBenchmark test result. The results data shows an Asus device, running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and a screen size of 1024 x 600. Also shown are the CPU clock details which reveal a minimum clock speed of 600 MHz and a top speed of 1008 MHz, indicating the presence of a 1 GHz processor. With the current advancement in processor technology, it could well be a dual-core Snapdragon S4 in there, which currently graces many a mid-range device these days.

The screen resolution and clock speed seem to be consistent with the rumored $99 pricing. Of course, it would be a long shot to expect anything more in terms of processing capability and display resolution for that price, but Google and Asus have surprised us earlier with the Nexus 7, and who knows what they may be planning this time. And with the Nexus 7 already becoming a best-seller for Asus, this may be just what they need to gain that strong foothold in the sub-$100 tablet segment.