For all the interesting tablets manufacturers have released in 2011 none has so far managed to compete with the iPad in terms of sales.
Competitors have been left scrambling for a strategy to take on Cupertino - and if the rumours are correct then for HTC the answer is simple: 'We need more cores!'
According to Digitimes, the Taiwanese manufacturer is preparing to announce a new high-spec tablet computer that will feature a quad-core processor more usually seen only in high-end laptops.
It is suspected that the powerful machine will be unveiled at Mobile World Conference in 2012, though of course nothing has yet been confirmed.
The theory is that quad-core tablets could perform functions more usually seen on PCs, including spectacular gaming and image manipulation.
Quad cores could also help with battery life.
However as MG Seigler noted at Techcrunch yesterday, those tablets that have had most success have achieved it regardless of their technical specifications.
"During the PC years … you could fairly reliably gauge the performance of one machine against another," Seigler said. "But with the rise of the Mac and more importantly, smartphones and tablets, you can’t as easily stack machines up against one another performance-wise."