Toshiba has reportedly placed orders for an entry-level 7-inch tablet named AT7-A and may launch it to the retail channel as soon as the third quarter of 2013, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

　　With Toshiba's entry, Dell is currently the only first-tier brand vendor to have not yet joined the entry-level 7-inch tablet competition, the sources noted.

　　Seeing that tablet demand has a chance to reach a scale of around 240 million units per year, despite the low profitability, most PC brand vendors are still aggressively trying to earn a stake in the segment.

　　Acer and Asustek Computer have both launched 7-inch tablets with prices below US$169, while Lenovo also released its 7-inch A1000 recently, priced at CNY900 (US$147) and featuring both 3G and Wi-Fi support.

　　Hewlett-Packard (HP) also has a 7-inch tablet, the Slate 7, selling in retail channels worldwide, priced at US$139-149.

　　7-inch tablets' low profitability is also causing brand vendors to be unable to recover their R&D expenses, and therefore most vendors are now simply choosing ODM devices to save costs, the sources noted.

　　Some brand vendors are concerned that since almost no added value can be found in the 7-inch tablet product line, and players can only push sales volumes, the business model may not be healthy in the long term.