Generic Android tablets with 7-inch screens and quad-core chips that deliver decent performance could soon sell for under US$35.
Tablets with low-resolution screens are already selling for $45 on Amazon, many of which have single- or dual-core processors from a Chinese chip company called Allwinner.
But the prices could fall under $35 when Allwinner ships its "fully formed" quad-core A33 chip for only $4, said analyst firm Linley Group in a newsletter this week.
The chip's quad-core processors will deliver better performance than older chips, and be capable of supporting 1280 x 800 displays, the analyst group said. The chip is based on ARM's Cortex-A7 design and has a Mali-400MP2 GPU, which is capable of rendering high-definition video.
The cheap tablets will likely come from no-name vendors in China, and won't offer the bells and whistles of Samsung or Apple tablets, but they could increase price pressure on brand names like HP and Acer, which have entry-level tablets priced around $100.
They'll be most suited to first-time buyers or users who aren't picky about hardware or software but certainly not power users, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. That's because they'll likely have limited memory, storage and fewer ports than more expensive devices.
"Users eventually will move up in performance," McGregor said.
The tablets would almost be disposable items, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.
And they could be here soon.
Mass production of the chip has already begun and prototype tablets have already been built.
A lot would come from Shenzhen, China, where a bulk of the device development is taking place, said Brookwood.
"This Shenzhen ecosystem, it's absolutely scary what they are doing," he said. "They operate on very thin margins. The kind of margins that no U.S. vendor can think about running on."
The no-name tablets usually don't come with customer support, and some may not have the Google Play store.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.