The End of Pixelbook?

A new report claims that Google has canceled its plans for a new Pixelbook Chromebook and has disbanded the team making it.

News of the setback was first reported by The Verge, citing a single source.

“Google doesn’t share future product plans or personnel information,” a Google statement issued in response to the report reads. “However, we are committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and helpful for our users. In regard to our people, in times where we do shift priorities, we work to transition team members across devices and services.”

So that seems to confirm the report, which goes on to claim that the coming fourth-generation Google Chromebook laptop—after the Chromebook Pixel, Pixelbook, and Pixelbook Go—was “far along in development and expected to debut next year.” But now it’s the victim of cost-cutting. A measure CEO Sundar Pichai telegraphed earlier this summer.

“In some cases, [we will] consolidate where investments overlap and streamline processes,” he wrote in a July memo to Google’s employees in which he explained how the firm would meet the new challenges of 2022 by working with focus and urgency. “In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas … Scarcity breeds clarity.”

Google isn’t done making Pixel-branded hardware, of course: it plans to launch a new generation of Pixel 7 smartphones and the Pixel 6 smartwatch in early October. And the online giant previously said that it would release a Pixel-branded Android tablet, the Pixel Tablet, in early 2023: if that product does get released, it could signal that Google’s new reemphasis on Android for large-screen devices is more than just talk.

And if you’re still interested in the latest Google Chromebook, the Pixelbook Go is still available from the Google Store in a few different configurations, with pricing starting at $649.