According to The Verge, Google has cancelled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and disbanded the team responsible for its development.
The Pixelbook team was likely to be disbanded due to cost-cutting concerns.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai declared in August that “productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the headcount we have,” and that the company would be “consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes.”
While the tablet flourished in Google’s ranks thanks to Android, the latest credible rumors about Google laptops came in the run-up to the launch of Google Tensor/Pixel 6. Then it was said that Google was developing its own chips as well as a Pixel 6 phone.
All indications are that Google will return to producing Pixelbooks, though it remains unknown. In 2015, the company stopped producing tablets but returned to production for Chrome OS tablets in 2018. Google then halted production again for three years and now plans to launch a new Android tablet in 2023.
Google Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh stated in May that the company “will make Pixelbooks in the future,” and according to the report, “the device was well advanced in development and is expected to debut next year” before it was canceled.
The sources for this piece include an article in Arstechnica.
