A team at Google was reportedly working on the next flagship tablet, the Pixel, but now that work appears to have been terminated for profitability reasons. At least, until a third Pixel tablet appears, presumably in the future. The Pixel tablet, released last fall, was widely seen as Google’s second re-entry into the tablet market, which is virtually dominated by the iPad, at least at the consumer level. It differentiated itself from Apple’s tablets by featuring a home-oriented docking station and speaker mount that looked like a large smart home display when docked.
Although no publicly released sales figures have been released, the device hasn’t led to any renewed interest in Android tablets beyond the baseline sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire devices (based on a Google-free Android fork). Google will likely continue to support and promote Android tablets from other manufacturers, currently occupying a middle ground between phone and tablet with its own Pixel Fold device.
Android tablets, such as Google’s, have been a lot of things over the years. After initial attempts with the clunky Motorola Xoom, Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs, and Amazon’s discounted Fire series, Google worked closely with Asus to release the Nexus 7 in 2012. The device was the right size, the right price, and felt surprisingly free of the baggage that’s usually stuffed into such devices by bundle-seeking manufacturers, carriers, and sponsors. Its 2013 successor was even better, worked well with Android at the time, and is still fondly remembered as the perfect “slightly bigger phone.”
After the Nexus 7, further attempts were made. The Nexus 9 was a problematic sibling. And 2015’s Pixel C was meant to be a productivity tablet running Chrome OS, but instead reminded everyone that Android doesn’t support multiple windows and keyboards. The Pixel Slate was Google’s actual Chrome OS tablet. It also struggled to find a very specific audience.
Google publicly announced in 2019 that it would stop making its own tablets. Google then revamped its tablet support with Android 12L in 2022, updated most of its apps to work better on larger screens, and launched the Pixel tablet in 2023. Now, Google seems ready to step back into a support role and help other manufacturers looking to break the strong association between “tablet” and “iPad” in the public eye. A report from Android Authority suggests that a future generation of Pixel tablets with external display support and more ports could still be in the works.
