Despite Google alluding that it would make a triumphant comeback, a new report has suggested that that the company’s flagship Chromebook, the Pixelbook, may be gone for good.
According to an unnamed source cited by The Verge, the team working on the new Pixelbook has been shut down, and work has been halted.
Google stopping development of the Pixelbook is far from surprising. CEO Sundar Pichai previously stated that hiring would be slowed, and several projects would be culled in anticipation of a period of economic instability.
The Pixelbook also hasn’t been updated for three years. While the high-end ChromeOS device never saw a true sequel after production was brought to a halt in 2019, reports last year suggested it may come back in 2023.
It is likely that Google has abandoned the Pixelbook as the high-end Chromebook market is already rather saturated with devices from Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Samsung and more, and believes it could better use it’s resources on other projects.
Google still sells the portable Pixelbook Go, and has developed the Pixel Slate, however the former is in need of an update and the latter was stopped shortly after launch.
Google is set to unveil a range of new products at their Made by Google launch event on October 6th 2022. At the event, it is expected to announce the Pixel 7 smartphone, a Pixel Watch, a new nest and with any luck, some information on the Pixel Tablet it announced back in May.
