Windows RT tablets coming from Samsung, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba this year

In addition to Microsoft's Surface line of tablets, which were announced back in June with great fanfare, four other major device manufacturers will be releasing their own Windows RT tablets later this year. Asus, Samsung, Lenovo and Toshiba have all signed on to produce Windows RT tablets.

Microsoft took a very measured approach to selecting what OEMs would be allowed to produce the first generation of Windows tablets, according to the Chinese Economic Times. The three Windows RT ARM chipset manufacturers, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and Texas Instruments, were limited to partnering with up to two manufacturers.

NVIDIA went with Lenovo and Asus, Texas instruments chose Toshiba, and Qualcomm decided on Samsung and HP. HP has since passed on the ARM RT tablet idea, so it is rumored that Qualcomm will be going with Dell instead.

Once January rolls around, Microsoft plans on opening up manufacturing rights to other companies. Keep an eye out for the first batch in late 2012, with another rush in Q1 of 2013.

Source: Chinese Economic Times; Via: UnwiredView

Seth Brodeur