Google announces that it will no longer make Pixelbooks for the time being. Production of the next Chromebook has been paused and the team working on it has focused on developing other products and services. There are several explanations for that decision at Google.
Pixelbook stops
In the familiar style of Google, we regularly see products or services coming, while others make their way to the exit. We expect the brand to present its first smartwatch this fall, and a new Pixel tablet after years. It was already coming, but Google has now added The Verge announced that there will be no new Pixelbook for the time being. Those are the Chromebooks that Google makes itself. The Pixelbook team has been disbanded and all employees are now working on other products.
The first Pixelbook came on the market in 2017 and the product had to be the epitome of a good Chromebook. It was a convertible that you could also use as a tablet, along with Android apps, and Google released the device with a stylus.
The Pixel Slate, which came out a year later, looked even more like a tablet with its detachable keyboard. However, with its software errors, the mediocre keyboard and premium price tag, that device could not convince many people. The affordable Pixelbook Go, which was presented in 2019, could hardly distinguish itself from competitors in the same price range.
Chromebooks mature
“The great thing about this product category is that it has matured,” Rock Osterloh, Google’s hardware chief, told The Verge. The company claims that the Pixelbook no longer has a function within the Chromebook market. It hasn’t released a Pixelbook since 2019, yet Chromebook sales have grown, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re now seeing Chromebooks in premium price ranges, and they’ve claimed their place in the classroom, too. And while no new Pixelbook hardware has been released, Chrome OS development was on full blast.
A second explanation for the Pixelbook’s scrapping comes from cost savings announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, which he did in July. during a briefing from Google’s shareholders. The Pixelbook was only available in a limited number of markets, yet Google put a lot of resources into product development. And on the other hand, there were also too few resources to be able to compete properly with other laptop manufacturers. Now that the Pixelbook has been scrapped, in theory extra money and more men will be released to make smartwatches, tablets, phones and smarthome products.
Door not quite shut
Google officially calls it “pausing” the development of the Pixelbooks, but we can still understand that the series is in fact getting a place in the well-filled and infamous Google graveyard of products and services. There it will be placed next to YouTube Go, the lighter YouTube app that we said goodbye to in May. Yet with the term “pause” Google still keeps the door ajar. Earlier this year, there was an unexpected relaunch of Google Wallet, a service that Google turned its back on for several years.
So we can’t expect a Pixelbook on October 6, but the brand will launch the Pixel Watch, the Pixel 7 series and a Pixel tablet that doubles as a smart display during its Made by Google event.
– Thanks for information from Androidworld. Source