Google appears to be freezing its market presence in the tablet category again, exiting the segment for the second time in five years. While Google’s Pixel Tablet 2 isn’t even out yet, the company has canceled plans to develop a Pixel Tablet 3, confirming rumors that the Pixel Tablet launched last year would remain the only one in the lineup.
Image source: Kandinsky
According to The Verge, the reason for this decision was weak sales of the Pixel Tablet, which forced the company to abandon further investments in this category. As recently as last week, there were rumors about new features and accessories for the next model, including a keyboard, but these plans have now been completely canceled. Google is likely to focus on other products such as smart displays like the Nest Hub and Hub Max in the near future.
It is noted that Google has long been experiencing certain difficulties in trying to compete with tablet market leaders such as Apple’s iPad. Although the company had success with the Nexus 7, its subsequent attempts failed to gain popularity among users. One of the main problems remains the lack of Android apps optimized for tablets, making the platform less attractive compared to iPadOS.
It is worth recalling that in 2019, Google already abandoned the production of tablets after the failure of the Pixel Slate, which received many negative reviews. Then the company canceled the development of two devices that were in the development stage. However, in 2022, Google announced that it would return to creating tablets, and as a result, the Pixel Tablet was released in 2023 for $499, which initially came with a docking station.
At the moment, Google has not made any official announcements about its plans for tablets. The Verge reached out to the company for comment, but so far no clarification has been received from Google.