PSA: The 2013 Nexus 7 has been discontinued
It had a great run, but Google has today discontinued the 2013-edition Nexus 7. The device was arguably—and is still to this this day—one of the best options when it comes to mid-range Android tablets. You may not be able to grab …
Context & Ripple Effects
The discontinuation lands barely a month after Google finished selling the Nexus 5, thinning the Nexus line from both ends at once. The 2013 Nexus 7 was the rare device that held its 'best mid-range Android tablet' reputation two years into its life, so its exit leaves a hole in exactly the price band where Android had been strongest against Apple.
First-order effects
- Buyers lose what the article calls one of the best mid-range Android tablet options still on sale, pushing that segment toward whatever stock remains at retailers.
- Google's Nexus lineup shrinks to phones and set-top hardware only, with no first-party small tablet in the catalog.
Second-order effects
- Manufacturing partners inherit the risk of the next refresh: when the follow-up cycle came due, HTC's Nexus 9 production wound down rather than anchoring a successor to this device's price point.
- With no cheap Nexus tablet holding the entry tier, Google's own tablet strategy drifted upmarket — the Pixel C it eventually sold stood alone in the store before being pulled.
Third-order effects
- Read against the full arc — the Nexus Player retired, the Nexus 9 ended, and the second-generation Pixel Tablet reportedly canceled over weak sales expectations — this discontinuation is an early data point in a decade-long Google retreat from tablets as a first-party category.
- If the pattern holds, Android tablets become a partner-driven market (Samsung et al.) while Google concentrates Nexus/Pixel effort on phones and living-room devices.
The trend: Google has spent the decade steadily winding down its own tablet hardware, from the Nexus 7's exit through the reported Pixel Tablet cancellation, ceding the category to partners.