Google Reorgs Hardware Group, Fitbit Co-Founders Are Leaving

Google has confirmed reports of layoffs in its core engineering and hardware divisions as it reorgs to better focus on generative AI. The number of layoffs is relatively low, but Fitbit cofounders James Park and Eric Friedman and other former Fitbit executives are among the casualties.

“A few hundred roles are being eliminated in the Devices and Services Product Area (DSPA), with the majority of impacts on the first-party AR Hardware team,” a Google statement explains. “While we are making changes to our first-party AR hardware team, Google continues to be deeply committed to other AR initiatives, such as AR experiences in our products, and product partnerships.”

DSPA is Google’s hardware group, responsible for “Made by Google” products like phones, tablets, smartwatches and fitness trackers, earbuds, and smart home devices. And based on Google’s statement, it appears that the company is stepping away from in-house AR hardware efforts like Glasses—at a time when Apple is poised to upend this market with the Vision Pro headset—and will allow partners to fill that void instead. Google will continue working on AR advances in software products like Lens and Maps, however.

Tied to this no doubt, Google also revealed that it is dropping support for “underutilized” Google Assistant features.

News of the layoffs came first from Semafor, but Google quickly confirmed them and other publications have added more information. The New York Times, for example, published parts of an email to the employees being laid off, which reads in part, “We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about ongoing employment of some Google employees, and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated.”

“We’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” a Google spokesperson told the publication. “Some teams are continuing to make organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally.”

But 9to5Google added what is perhaps the most surprising news, that Fitbit’s cofounders and other unnamed executives “are leaving Google.” Mr. Park appeared publicly at Google’s last hardware event, the October Made by Pixel launch. And give recent rumors, it’s hard not to be worried about how these changes might impact the Fitbit product line.