A new Acer Iconia A1-810 tablet quietly entered the stage, seemingly aiming to challenge the iPad Mini, Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

While some may argue that Acer is a bit late to the party, it's increasingly obvious that high-tech, smaller tablets are very appealing to consumers. Apple's new tablet enters precisely this segment of the market, joining the likes of the Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini in terms of size and form factor.

The Acer Iconia A1-810 is a 7.9-inch slate with a 1024 x 768 resolution, a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front camera, 16GB of built-in storage and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean on board. While the 7.9-inch display puts it in direct competition with Apple's pint-sized iPad Mini, Acer's offering appears to be considerably cheaper.

According to TechRadar, French site Rue du Commerce lists the Iconia A1-810 tablet with a €199 price tag — about $259/ £169 — significantly lower than the iPad Mini's price point. The French retailer is currently the only one taking orders for the tablet, which reportedly will ship in June. Other markets and prices will likely surface near the actual release date.

The new tablet's display size and resolution puts it on par with the iPad Mini's display and only slightly inferior to the Nexus 7's. The processor will reportedly be a 1.2GHz MediaTek MT8125 ARM Cortex A9 quad-core, while connectivity will include the usual menu of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Other features of the Acer Iconia A1-810 include a micro HDMI port and a 3,250mAh battery.

The iPad Mini, meanwhile, comes at a higher cost but is thinner and lighter. The Acer Iconia A1-810 measures 208.7 x 145.7 x 10.5 mm and weighs in at 460g, while the iPad Mini is more slender at 200 x 134.7 x 7.2mm and 308g.

TechRadar contacted Acer for details regarding the Iconia A1-810 tablet but received no confirmation for the company's plans.

"There is currently no official release that has been issued [for the A1-810]," Acer told TechRadar.

If the June release date proves to be true, the Acer Iconia A1-810 may hit the market around the same time the second-generation Nexus 7 is expected to arrive. Could it give the iPad Mini and Nexus 7 a run for their money?