Smartphone maker, HTC Corporation has confirmed it will launch a new tablet next year and has also named which of its products will receive the new Android operating system upgrade.

The Taiwanese manufacture has already launched the HTC Flyer and HTC Jetstream tablets earlier this year, but has largely focused on its smartphone enterprise which has seen it grow from obscurity over the past few years to be crowned the “fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the world,” according to tech research company IDC.

Speaking at a media briefing, HTC CEO Peter Chou says that the company now wants to expand further into the tablet arena. "It's a market we would like to try and test, to see whether we can make ourselves stand out and prevent a me-too product."

The news follows the announcement that seven of HTC’s products will be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, version 4.0 of Google's operating system. The OS upgrade will be available in the first quarter of 2012 for the Sensation, Sensation XL, Sensation XE, Rezound, Evo 3D, Evo Design 4G and Amaze 4G. Other HTC devices may receive the upgrade in due course.

"We're continuing to assess our product portfolio, so stay tuned for more updates on device upgrades, timing and other details about HTC and Ice Cream Sandwich," it said on its Facebook page

Last week, HTC said that sales in the fourth quarter will fall compared to the previous month due to stiff opposition from its main rivals Samsung, Apple and Nokia.