Although French consumer electronics company Archos has been in the Android tablet business since September 2009 (when they released the Archos 5 Internet tablet), they are not a name that you would normally associate with top-end devices. The Archos business model was, at least up until now, to provide cheap Android tablets for the lowest possible price. Obviously, the fruits of this philosophy weren’t exactly the slimmest or the best performing tablets around, but that’s sort of about to change, with the imminent release of the Archos G10 xs series of tablets, which will feature a super-thin profile of only 7.6mm. Let me do the math for you: that’s an impressive 20% thinner than Apple’s new iPad.

Unfortunately, that’s the only spec Archos officials were kind enough to share with the public regarding the Archos G10 xs, and no release date was announced either. Sure enough, we’ll get back to you when there's something to report, but, judging by the announced price point (between $260 and $520) and by the fact that Archos officials talked about it as a “family” of tablets, I’m guessing that there will be multiple versions of G10 xs. Here goes hoping some quad-core love bleeds into at least one of them!

Here’s an official video that showcases how thin the Archos G10 xs (for eXtra Slim) will be, as well as its dedicated keyboard dock (ASUS Transformer-style):

At the same event where the Archos G10 xs was unveiled, Archos officials have also announced their intention to further improve their presence in the low-cost and mid-end markets, via their Arnova tablet family (cheap, not Google certified) and the (mid-range) Elements series.

It’s nice to see other mid-range Android manufacturers following in ZTE’s and Huawei’s footsteps and entering the high-end device markets. If the variety of devices running Android has taught us anything so far, is that it’s always better to be offered more hardware to pick from.

Are you interested into buying a high-end tablet from Archos? Is 7.6 mm slim enough for you? Drop us a line below and tell us what you think!