Head to head with the Kindle Fire HDX, iPad Mini, and Nexus 7

With the holiday buying season about to start, here’s a look at three of the top competitors vying for your Christmas cash.

Things are getting interesting for tablets as we move into the final months of 2013. Although Apple comfortably led the market since the original iPad was announced in 2010, Android is picking up the lead with the arrival of smaller and more affordable options — so much so that late last year Cupertino decided it was high time to jump on this category, albeit not necessarily worrying about having the lowest price.

In between Google’s Nexus refresh back in July and the rumored launch of new iPads next month, Amazon made their move with two new Kindle Fire HDX tablets that will fight for your holiday dollars. But whereas past devices have focused primarily on value, with mid range internals capable of handling most tablet-centric tasks, this time around the company is pulling the big guns with a couple of high-spec yet still affordable tablets.