April 11, 2013 - 19:00 AMT
Microsoft developing 7-inch tablet, report says

Microsoft is rumoured to be developing a tablet with a 7-inch display, Digital Spy said.

The computing giant will begin work on its competitor to the iPad mini and Nexus 7 later this year, according to The Wall Street Journal's sources.

The smaller Windows slate is said to have been added to Microsoft's release slate following the success of other micro tablets, such as the Nexus 7, iPad mini and Kindle Fire HD.

Rumours that Microsoft would enter this sector of the market emerged when the firm lowered the resolution requirements for tablets running the Windows 8 operating system.

Tablets must now offer a minimum resolution of 1,024x768 to run the OS, down from the previous required resolution of at least 1,366x768.

Last month, it was confirmed that Microsoft has sold around 1.5 million of its Surface tablets.