Sources: Google canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop slated for 2023 and dissolved the team building it, as part of recent cost-cutting measures
Google is getting out of the laptop game — Google has canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and dissolved the team responsible for building it.
The Verge
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had already been shrinking its in-house laptop and tablet operation in 2019, when it moved staff out of the division, and it subsequently ended the Pixel Slate after shifting its stated focus to Pixelbook laptops. The Pixelbook cancellation removes that remaining laptop commitment.
The move also fits Google's earlier exit from smaller tablet projects, making the Pixelbook team dissolution a broader retrenchment in internally developed larger-screen hardware rather than an isolated product delay.
First-order effects
Google loses its planned next Pixelbook and the dedicated team that would have developed it, ending the product's near-term roadmap.
The cancellation narrows Google's in-house hardware effort after Pixel Slate was discontinued and Pixelbook had been positioned as the laptop focus.
Second-order effects
Google's 2019 assertion that it would remain committed to laptops is no longer supported by an active next-generation Pixelbook program, leaving its larger-screen hardware strategy more constrained.
The decision reinforces the earlier reduction of Google's laptop-and-tablet organization, concentrating the consequences of cost cutting on a product category already subject to retrenchment.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, Google's internally developed tablet and laptop lines become episodic bets rather than sustained product franchises; the later cancellation of a second-generation Pixel Tablet is consistent with that trajectory.
Google's hardware portfolio would increasingly be defined by selective continuation or cancellation of individual form factors, rather than a stable cross-device lineup built around laptops and tablets.
The trend: Google's repeated tablet and laptop pullbacks point to a more selective, cost-disciplined approach to in-house larger-screen hardware.
One theory I have about Google is that the company is so relentlessly driven by data that it can only really see the past, and never quite invent the future https://www.theverge.com/...
This year, Google gets out of the laptop game and into the tablet game. Next year, Google will get out of the tablet game and into the convertible game. The following year, Google will get out of the convertible game and into the laptop game. Repeat ad infinitum. https://twitter.…
Google cancels its upcoming Pixelbook laptop and disbands the product team. The company still plans a Pixel Watch despite owning Fitbit. Snapchat is looking decisive in comparison as they cut once and deep. Google seems determined to drag things out. https://www.theverge.com/...
This theory seems plausible. There's so much emphasis on data with them, and they're often lagging. Ex: They were the ones using matte finish when everyone was glossy. They just moved to glossy...when everyone moved to a matte finish, lol. Oh, Google. Time to shake it up a bit. h…
It is very difficult to nurture an ecosystem while also building the same device asked of the ecosystem, especially with open source software. https://www.theverge.com/...
Instead of a great, modern Pixelbook with slim bezels and that phenomenal keyboard, Google thinks the better idea is building a tablet that looks like it's from 2014. https://www.theverge.com/... You can't make this stuff up.
Scoop with @alexeheath: Google was planning to release a new Pixelbook next year, but recently canceled the device and shut down the team responsible for building it https://www.theverge.com/...