HTC plans to introduce a quad-core tablet device in February, as the company looks to compete in the high-end of the market.

CEO Peter Chou said the Taiwanese company is looking to stand out from competitors by using Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor, a significant leap over the iPad's dual-core A5 chip, will reportedly power the device.

HTC is also expected to debut its quad-core smartphone, called the Edge, along with another Android smartphone at the at Mobile World Congress, according to reports.

HTC has emerged as one of the top Android phone makers in the world, and is now trying to do the same with tablets. The company is no longer content matching its competition and instead is driving forward with truly innovative engineering in quad-core devices.

The tablet market has gotten crowded recently, with Barnes & Noble's release of the new Nook and Amazon's upcoming Kindle Fire hitting the market this month. However, while most competitors are attacking the market with low-priced devices to compete against Apple's iPad, the technology expected to be in HTC's new tablet may put it in a different category.

A tablet powered by a quad-core processor is likely to sell at an even higher price than the $500 iPad, Apple's least-expensive offering. In the past, devices like the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad have failed to carve out a piece of the market while existing in the same price bracket the iPad. HTC has experienced this firsthand with its Flyer and Jetstream tablets, as poor sales were largely attributed to their high price.

More powerful hardware may be enough for HTC's tablet to attract customers in the beginning, but as competitors like Apple catch-up and level the playing the field, the company will need something else to separate itself.

Chou believes his company's tablets will offer that, but he's not letting anyone in on what exactly that means until February, when the new quad-core tablets are expected to hit the market.