Remember in 2019 when Google announced that it was giving up on tablets? And then teased the Pixel Tablet in 2022 before ultimately releasing it in 2023? Well, it looks like And now it turns out that the Pixel Tablet will also be joining that list again, though not before getting one more iteration.
There is currently only the first generation Pixel Tablet available on the market. Insiders from Google claim that — though a Pixel Tablet 2 is under the works — there will be no third tablet.Multiple industry sources close to the project have confirmed that the device, internally known as “Kiyomi,” will not be moving forward.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Google made this decision last week, with internal communications and meetings taking place to inform the teams involved. The personnel previously assigned to the Pixel Tablet 3 project are being redirected to other initiatives within the company.
Pixel Tablet 2 is presumably too far into development to quit cold turkey which is why it will allegedly come out next year. However, there’s no saying how long support for it will last if Google has given up on the entire thing.
What does this mean for Google’s tablet?
The Pixel Tablet — something that sounds so appealing on paper — didn’t turn out to be the high-end Android experience we hoped for. Google’s newest tablet, while not bad per se, was nothing special either. The 60 Hz display in particular made it feel very outdated, a problem that is also present on the iPhone 16.
However, instead of working towards improving it and making it the Android contender we need, Google simply abandoning it.As it stands The Pixel Tablet was marketed as some “premium” tablet from Google, when in reality, it looked a lot like a cheap tablet from Five Below. It was pretty cheap compared to other premium tablets like the iPad Air and iPad Pro, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S series.And Google really can’t charge Apple prices because Android, unlike iOS, isn’t exclusive to Pixel.
This effectively means that the Pixel Tablet 2, when it launches next year, will be a lame duck tablet.