Acer and Lenovo are set to launch quad-core tablet PCs featuring Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Nvidia's Tegra 3 in the first quarter to compete against Asustek Computer, which has already launched its latest Eee Pad Transformer Prime with Tegra 3 and Samsung Electronics, according to sources from notebook players.

The sources pointed out that the competition over the quad-core tablet PCs will be difficult as these quad-core devices will only see improvements over their performance and design, but will still feature the same concept as their dual-core predecessors.

Therefore, these players may need to battle it out before being able to enter competition against players such as Amazon or Apple, the sources noted.

The sources noted that although these players' performance in the dual-core tablet PC competition were not as good as expected, they will continue to advance and launch new quad-core devices to defend their brands.

The new quad-core tablet PCs from Acer and Lenovo are expected to be priced between US$459-599.

Since non-Apple players' machines have no advantage to compete against Amazon or Apple's tablet PC devices, the sources believe non-Apple players will together account for only 10-15% of the total tablet PC market.

Source:digitimes