Google has decided to cancel the further release of Pixelbook laptops and even dissolved the team that was engaged in their design, reports The Verge. A new model in this line was supposed to debut next year, but the project was cut short as part of Google's new austerity policy.
A few months ago, Google planned to continue work on the Pixelbook. Ahead of the annual I/O developer conference, Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh told The Verge that "we're going to do a Pixelbook in the future." But he also acknowledged that the Chromebook market has changed since 2017 when the first model of the line was released.
Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, has said for months that he intends to slow hiring and cut some projects across the company. "In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes," he wrote in a July letter to Google staff. "n other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas." The project team and the Pixelbook itself fell victim to this consolidation and redistribution.
"Google doesn’t share future product plans or personnel information; however, we are committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and helpful for our users," Laura Brin, Google's communications manager, told The Verge. "In regards to our people, in times where we do shift priorities we work to transition team members across devices and services."