Since Google’s first 7-inch tablet, the Nexus 7, was announced last year, shipments of Android tablets have risen quickly. Though the iPad Mini provides strong competition, a slew of low-priced, 7-inch Android devices led by the Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire have begun to take over living rooms across the western world.

Last month, Google announced the first refresh of the Nexus 7. The new tablet will have a faster CPU, a much faster GPU, and a full 1080p display. With the mini-tablet market now fully established, the new version of Google’s device is expected to sell well.

Taiwanese publication DigiTimes is reporting that predictions for the Nexus 7’s 2013 sales are as high as 3.5 million units. The original Nexus 7 has sold around 6 million units since its debut one year ago.

The report’s unnamed “sources with Taiwan’s supply chain” are cited as saying Google could sell even more Nexus 7s, if they were to offer the tablets in China. Though Taiwanese company Asus is the hardware partner for the Nexus 7, the device is not likely to be approved for sale in China. This is due to Google’s highly-publicized break from the Chinese market in 2010 over internet censorship concerns.

(via DigiTimes)