Google has made its last iPad rival

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Google Pixel Slate tablet
Pixel Slate is the last Google tablet you’ll ever see,
Photo: Google

Google won’t make any more tablets, and dropped plans to introduce two models it was prepping for release.

No reason was given, but heavy competition from Apple’s iPad line had to have been a factor.

No more Pixel tablet hardware

Today’s announcement only covers hardware, like the Pixel Slate the company introduced last year. Google will continue to develop Chrome OS for tablets, but it will be up to other companies to produce them.

“Chrome OS has grown in popularity across a broad range of form factors, and we’ll continue to work with our ecosystem of partners on laptops and tablets,” a Google spokesperson told Business Insider. “For Google’s first-party hardware efforts, we’ll be focusing on Chrome OS laptops and will continue to support Pixel Slate.”

Google tablets faced tough competition

The Pixel Slate is a Chrome OS tablet with a 12.3-inch display and other high-end features. When it debuted last fall, it had to compete with the redesigned software iPad Pro line in 12.9- and 11-inch sizes.

Market research shows the result was not good for Google. In the first quarter of this year, iPad shipments grew 9% year-over-year. And Apple continued to hold the largest share of the global tablet market, shipping more that double the next nearest competitor, Samsung. Google didn’t even shop up in the top 5 tablet makers.

Little is know about the two Google slates that will never see the light of day, other than they were smaller than the one introduced last October. They reportedly failed QA testing, causing Google to drop them and all subsequent tablets.

 

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