October 6 will take place the annual traditional Made by Google presentation, at which the Pixel 7 smartphones and Pixel Watch smartwatches are definitely fully announced, and, probably, cheaper Chromecast. But you can’t wait for the new Pixelbook at the presentation – Google canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and disbanded the team responsible for its development, informs The Verge, citing knowledgeable sources within the company.
It is reported that the development of the next generation of the flagship Chromebook Pixelbook was “strongly delayed” and it was curtailed, and employees were transferred to other relevant projects. Obviously, this reallocation of resources is due to the desire of management to reduce operating costs against the backdrop of rising inflation around the world along with other economic shocks and the corresponding change in consumer sentiment in the PC market.
Google has not yet commented on this information and has not made public statements. But there is no reason to doubt the veracity of this information. And because Google took the Pixelbook off the market in 2020 this move effectively means that the company is officially all laptops and leaving the market after nearly a decade of trying to gain a foothold in it. We are talking about the release of laptops in the classic form factor, and not hybrid tablets and 2-in-1 transformers.
At least, for some time Google won’t release Pixelbook in the traditional laptop form factor – until it decides to return with a new model. And this is quite ironic against the background of Google’s return to the tablet market after an 8-year pause – the new Pixel Tablet expected only in 2023. Ironic because at one time Google had already abandoned the line Chromebook Pixel in favor of tablets and the Pixel Slate model, which finally failed in sales and led to the curtailment of the business line.
Below – briefly recall the path Google in the PC market and the Chromebook segment (chronology):
- The original Google Chromebook Pixel debuted February 21, 2013 a in two years – in March 2015 – the second generation came out. The updated model received good performance and was cheaper than its predecessor. At the end of August 2016, Google suspended sales of the Chromebook Pixel 2 without releasing a new model.
- In 2017 Google changed strategy again – the first The Pixelbook has become a high-end alternative to the “people’s” Chromebook. 12.3-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop starting at $999 with a $99 Pixelbook Pen that had to be purchased separately.
- In 2019, Google introduced a more accessible Pixelbook Go for $649, which at the same time was positioned as a premium Chromebook with the Pixel brand. He is still for sale and remains the only Pixel from ChromeOS.
While Pixel-branded Chromebooks aimed to showcase how ChromeOS has expanded with premium hardware, they have subjectively never been as popular as the cheaper third-party models that have long dominated the education space. Over the past few years, the popularity of affordable laptops with ChromeOS has increased markedly – and helped a lot pandemics and Microsoft’s own Windows 11 promotion policy.
Shipments of Chromebooks in 2020 for the first time exceeded 30 million units – this is the best result ever
