Yesterday Android Headlines reported that Google had canceled its development of the Pixel Tablet 3 — even before announcing a second-gen model. Well, today Android Authority is saying that it’s in fact the second-generation Pixel Tablet that has been canned, meaning that the device released last year will apparently be a one-off and that Google is bailing on the tablet category for the second time in a little over five years. At best, we’re in for a long pause until the next one.
If true, the news would suggest that sales of the Pixel Tablet have been so poor that Google has decided further investment in a follow-up just isn’t worth it. As recently as last week, there were rumors of new features and a keyboard accessory for the now-abandoned product.
It’s worth noting the possibility that Google’s Nest division could take over its large-screen product ambitions and focus on evolving devices like the Nest Hub and Hub Max instead of standalone tablets.
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Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
Helped in no part by its on-again, off-again strategy, Google has always struggled to meaningfully break into the tablet market and produce a contender capable of rivaling Apple’s iPad in sales and mainstream success. It got off to a promising start ages ago with the Nexus 7, but never really put up much of a fight after that — even if the hardware was nice. Android badly lags iPadOS in the number of third-party apps that are optimized for tablets, another issue that has held back Google’s efforts.
The company originally said it was done making tablets in 2019 after its Pixel Slate received overwhelmingly negative reviews. At the time, two still-in-development tablets were scrapped.
But by 2022, Google changed its mind and announced that its Pixel hardware team was working on a tablet. That device eventually became the $499 Pixel Tablet, which shipped with a speaker dock that the tablet could magnetically attach to. (Google would later offer the tablet by itself for $399.)
The Verge has reached out to Google for comment and clarification on its tablet plans.
