According to The Verge today, “Google has canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and disbanded the team responsible for building it.” The company was indeed aiming for a 2023 unveiling and is said to be “far into development”. There likely won’t be another first-party Chromebook anytime soon, as “team members have been transferred elsewhere within the company.” This was a recent occurrence as chief hardware officer Rick Osterloh told The Verge ahead of I/O 2022 in May that Google “will be making Pixelbooks in the future.” Cost-cutting measures are being reported across the company, with CEO Sundar Pichai in recent weeks talking about product consolidation in light of the economic environment. Google has not confirmed the cancellation of the Pixelbook, but said it is “committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and useful for our users.” Since 2013, Google’s ChromeOS hardware has been released every two years. The Pixel brand started in 2017 with the Pixelbook, followed by the Pixelbook Go in 2019. The “Halvor” was expected to be the 2021 device, but nothing ever materialized. Last year, it looked like Google was going back on schedule for 2023 with a Tensor-powered Pixelbook that would replace Intel. The original September 2021 rumor said Google was working on CPUs for both laptops and tablets. The latter will come to fruition next year, while the initial report on Tensor, which pinpointed its launch in 2021, said that “next versions of Google’s chip could power Chromebooks.” On the PC side, it’s notable that Google publicly announced in May that it’s committed to making a Pixel-branded tablet as part of Android’s larger big-screen push. It’s rumored to have some sort of crossover as the Nest Smart Display, while a “Pro” model is also rumored. This could be Google’s way of making a presence in the desktop computing space. Meanwhile, there are more premium Chromebooks on the market today, but their build and hardware quality arguably still hasn’t caught up to the Pixelbooks, which were pretty close to the MacBooks in that regard. Update… FTC: We use affiliate links that automatically earn you income. More. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:
