Samsung may come with Windows RT tablet at Windows 8 release

Samsung plans to release a Windows RT-based tablet along with the release of Windows 8 this fall. Little is known about the specifications, but the device is said to be designed around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4-soc.

Bloomberg reports this on the basis of various anonymous sources. If the rumors are correct, Samsung will release both ARM and x86 tablets with Windows 8 this fall. At the Computex, the company showed all its Series 5 and Series 7 hybrid tablets, based on Intel’s Clover Trail platform. These will connect to a keyboard dock, just like the Transformer series from Asus.

Almost nothing is known about the specifications, only that the device will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4-soc. This 28nm dual-core was introduced earlier this year and is used in the HTC One S smartphone, among other things. The chip is widely used in America because it has a built-in LTE modem. During the Computex Qualcomm demonstrated a tablet with Snapdragon S4 and Windows RT.

Microsoft itself also comes with tablets based on ARM hardware and Windows RT; the company announced these Surface tablets last month. Rumor has it that several partners were not happy with Microsoft’s entry into the hardware market and manufacturer Acer publicly said that Microsoft had made a wrong choice.

HP recently announced that it will focus on Windows 8 tablets with x86 hardware. Earlier this year, the manufacturer would have considered also working with ARM hardware, but the better developed ecosystem around x86 hardware provides users with the best experience, according to HP.