Google's Pixel Slate was a tablet nobody asked for — and Google quit tablets over it

The Pixel Slate was Google's first touch-first ChromeOS tablet, announced October 2018 as its flagship 'Made by Google' tablet after three years without one. It was pitched as both a laptop and a tablet, with a detachable keyboard and stylus, priced from $599 to $1,599 in the US depending on chip and storage.

The problem was the product's own ambiguity. The entry-level $599 and $699 Celeron models were panned for sluggish performance and quickly went out of stock, leaving the pricier m3 model as the de facto entry point. ChromeOS tablets as a form factor had not taken off, and the Android app experience reviewers had hoped for was lacking. By June 2019 Google had canceled two in-development models and cut $200 off the price.

That same month, Google Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh confirmed the company was abandoning first-party tablet development to focus on laptops. The Pixel Slate was removed from the Google Store in January 2021 — the product Google bet its tablet future on had lasted just over two years and ended the company's first-party tablet line.