The Pixel Tablet 2's reported cancelation shows why Google can't catch up to the iPad

21 Nov 2024, 22:52 by Will Sattelberg · Android Police

Over the past two decades, Google has earned its reputation as a company that kills off products well before their time. Whether its niche-but-beloved applications like Reader (RIP) and Inbox (double RIP) or out-the-gate failures like Stadia, you never quite know if a Google product is going to catch on. And unfortunately, that attitude seems to be catching on with the company's hardware division.

According to a new report from Mishaal Rahman, the Pixel Tablet 2 as you know it is dead, leaving the original Pixel Tablet as a one-off failure. Allegedly, a third-gen Pixel Tablet is still in the pipeline for a potential 2027 release date, but frankly, I'll believe it when I see it. This cancelation, assuming it's real, is particularly frustrating. Google's re-entry into the tablet space wasn't an outright failure, but the exact sort of first-gen product that could lead to a best-in-class successor. For now, though, this dream seems, like so many of the company's initiatives, dead well before its time.

Google Pixel Tablet review: That first-gen feeling

It's a fine midranger, but the Pixel Tablet's best ideas are half-baked

The first-gen Pixel Tablet was a flawed first attempt

But one with plenty of room to grow

Google's first — and, to date, only — Pixel Tablet had a long road to release. After a near-half decade break from the market, we first heard about Google's hybrid tablet-smart display way back in March of 2022, only to get an early glimpse of the product at I/O two months later. In October, during the Pixel 7 announcement, Google provided some additional context, including confirmation of its marquee feature: a bundled speaker dock that would deliver a Nest Hub-like experience bundled up in a single product.

Then, silence. It wasn't until I/O 2023, a full year after its original unveiling, that the Pixel Tablet showed up in the flesh. I remember trying it out alongside the original Pixel Fold in Google's hands-on area, only to walk away feeling disappointed. The display was slow and dim, the dock sounded quieter than I had hoped for, and the lack of Cast support made the entire device feel a little half-baked. And at $500, Google had failed not just to undercut the $330 ninth-gen iPad, but the (then) $450 tenth-gen iPad as well.

My concerns were, unfortunately, well-founded. AP's Google Editor Taylor Kerns gave the device a 7.5 out of 10 in our review, calling out its performance, display, and the general concept of the speaker dock as its highlights. But the coalescence of a sluggish refresh rate, shortcomings with Hub Mode, and the forced inclusion of a dock that simply wasn't worth the price kept it from being selected as our favorite tablet of last year. Reviews from publications like The Verge and TechRadar found a similar conclusion. The Pixel Tablet wasn't bad, but it wasn't much better than its alternatives, either.

In the year-plus since, I think this mindset has only grown. Far too late into its lifespan, Google introduced a dockless model for $400 in May. If this had arrived day and date with the original model, it would've been far easier to recommend the Pixel Tablet among its fellow mid-range tablets, like Samsung's $450 Galaxy Tab S9 FE from October of 2023, and, of course, the aforementioned iPad.

Here's the thing though: Google announced this $400 dockless model literally an hour after Apple lowered that device's price to $350. Meanwhile, the Pixel Tablet had routinely been discounted to $400 with the dock leading up to that announcement. The dockless device simultaneously showed Google's lack of faith in the concept of a hybrid smart display and a complete misunderstanding of the broader tablet market. To consumers in the know, it sent a quiet message: We don't believe in our own product. And now we know, that sense of skepticism was absolutely well-placed.

Google's surprise cheaper Pixel Tablet simply can't beat Apple's iPad

At $349, the iPad simply outshines the first-gen Pixel Tablet in every way that matters

Google is ending its tablet lineup before it ever really began

All in response to poor sales, a problem of its own making

The Pixel Tablet might've been a flawed product, but there was so much space to grow. For every mistake, you could easily see how its successor could solve its mistakes. Making the dock optional from the jump would make it easier for Google to compete head-to-head against the iPad — I maintain the company needed to undercut Apple to find success here. Better yet, Google could've worked to make the dock feel like an accessory you wouldn't want to give up by boosting its sound quality, or giving it full Cast support (not the Pixel-exclusive hand-off feature that took ten months after my CES demo to roll out to users).

In fact, Hub Mode in general could've used a lot of work. While former AP Editor Manuel Vonau found plenty to like about the Pixel Tablet when docked, it was a far cry from what the Nest Hub could do at the height of Assistant's reign. And as Assistant slowly becomes a legacy product — before it's eventually shuttered, which we all know is coming — a Pixel Tablet 2 could've served as a true successor to the aging Nest Hub Max, built first and foremost for the Gemini era.

It's just like Google to decide that a flawed product's poor sales means you shouldn't continue iterating on the original core concept. Rather than company leadership acknowledging that releasing a rough-around-the-edges first-gen tablet in 2023 at, arguably, too expensive of a price point likely pushed users in other directions, it's simply time to give up the ghost. Don't wonder whether it has anything to do with Google having released two poorly-reviewed tablets before abandoning the category in 2018. No, it's simply the will of the market that a potential Pixel Tablet 2 just isn't meant to be.

Personally, I don't buy that. There are a million reasons why the Pixel Tablet could be seen internally as a failure, and Google is to blame for almost all of them. But moreover, it shows a real lack of dedication to iterate on in-house ideas right as we're seeing nearly a decade of similar efforts in the smartphone space pay off. Right now, the Pixel 9 series is absolutely killing it, finally proving Google as a real alternative to Samsung and Apple in North America. Sales numbers might not be on par with those behemoths, but it's absolutely trending in the right direction.

Can you imagine if Google had given up on the Pixel lineup just one or two generations in? The earliest Pixel smartphones had plenty of good ideas, but they weren't perfect.The Pixel 2 XL had a terrible display, the Pixel 3 XL had an ugly notch, and the Pixel 6's modem was, in retrospect, an abject failure. In fact, one could argue it wasn't until this year's Pixel 9 trio where the overall package felt on par with what Apple and Samsung offer. And it took eight years and nine generations to get there.

What we would've wanted from the Google Pixel Tablet 2

Google's first tablet was overpriced and underperformed

Let's hope this isn't the last we see of the Pixel Tablet

I, for one, am hoping we see another Pixel Tablet down the road. It's so easy to imagine a hypothetical second try completely knocking it out of the park, simply by making good on the missed potential of the original model. Instead, we're left with a one-and-done approach to both tablets and smart displays that didn't seem to understand either product category. And it's yet another reason why people might hesitate to take Google's hardware division seriously.

Frankly, who could blame them? Between the (likely) death of the Pixel Tablet 2 and the recent rumors about internal intentions to turn ChromeOS into Android, Google feels pretty directionless outside of already established successes. Considering just how important ecosystems have become in our modern age, this company should be cautious in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The Pixel 9's strong sales numbers could be the key to Android's survival

Here's why the Pixel's success matters