Update: Lenovo has issued a statement to WinBeta. Lenovo is not backing out of the small screen Windows tablet business. You can read the original report below.
Lenovo has slammed the brakes on sales of small screen Windows tablets in the United States, citing a lack of interest from consumers. In fact, Lenovo has stopped selling the ThinkPad 8 and the Miix 2.
Unveiled back in January of this year, the ThinkPad 8 features an 8-inch 1920×1200 display, a single MicroUSB 3.0 port, and a quad-core Intel Bay Trail processor. It also boasts an 8-megapixel rear camera. The device started at $399 and runs Windows 8.1.
The Miix 2, on the other hand, was also unveiled in January of this year. The Miix 2 is powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3740 CPU, backed up by 2GB LPDDR3 1066 MHz RAM. Running the 32-bit version of Windows 8.1, the device boasts a 8-inch display running at a resolution of 1920×1200. Lenovo continues to sell Miix 2 with a 10.1-inch screen in the US.
“In North America, we’re seeing stronger interest in the larger screen sizes for Windows tablets and are pleased with initial customer demand for the ThinkPad 10,” said Raymond Gorman, a Lenovo spokesperson. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Lenovo’s devices under 10-inches.
The 8-inch version of Miix 2 is no longer available and the remaining ThinkPad 8 stock has been redirected to developing countries, where there is more interest in small-screen Windows tablets. “In other markets, particularly Brazil, China, and Japan, the demand for ThinkPad 8 has been much stronger, so we are adjusting our ThinkPad 8 inventories to meet increasing demand in those markets. If market demand for ThinkPad 8 changes, we will re-evaluate our strategy,” Gorman said.
