The Pixel Slate was announced in October 2018 as Made by Google’s first tablet and flagship, touch-only Chrome OS device. After two years, the Pixel Slate is now out of stock and discontinued in the three countries it launched in.
Update 1/20/21: At the start of last month, we reported on how the Pixel Slate was out of stock in the US, Canada, and UK. Inventory did not return in the intervening weeks, and the Google Store today removed the product listing entirely. It’s also no longer shown under the main “Pixelbook” tab. The Pixelbook Pen was also taken down, though replacement tips remain available.
Original 12/1/20: The Pixel Slate is defined by a 12.3-inch 3000×2000 (293PPI) LCD that supports stylus input from the Pixelbook Pen. That — as it’s branded — “Molecular Display” is flanked by front-firing speakers on the left and right, while an 8-megapixel ƒ/1.9 “Duo Cam” is above. The branding inspiration for the wide-angle front-facer is clear, while there’s another 8MP ƒ/1.8 on the rear that also supports 1080p 30FPS video recording.
The top-right corner is home to a Pixel Imprint fingerprint sensor that doubles as the power button, while there are USB-C ports on either side of the device that charges the 48Wh battery rated for up to 12 hours of use.
Powered by Intel processors, there were originally five variations. The entry $599 model at launch was powered by an Intel Celeron with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. For $100 more, you got the same chip with double the memory and eMMC. While Google was aiming for affordability, those two offerings were panned performance-wise. For the last year or so of the Pixel Slate’s life, three models were offered at adjusted prices:
- $499: 8th Gen Intel Core m3, 8GB RAM, 64GB SSD
- $599: 8th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD
- $899: 8th Gen Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
Google pushed both entertainment and productivity use cases for its tablet. The latter was aided by an official keyboard case that connected via pins and had round chiclet keys. The USB-C ports supported 4K display output for a docked configuration. Design-wise, all units were available in Midnight Blue, and the device weighed 1.6 pounds for a svelte 7mm thickness.
Overall, standalone Chromebook tablets — versus convertible 2-in-1s — have yet to take off as a form factor. Android apps were the primary appeal, but the experience was lacking, and more optimized experiences were found on the web. Chrome OS tablets will likely have more luck on the low-end.
Around eight months after the Pixel Slate was announced, Google confirmed that it was moving away from first-party tablets and focusing on laptops as seen by the Pixelbook Go. The Pixel Slate no longer being available for sale comes as the original Pixelbook met a similar status back in September.
The Pixel Slate is currently “out of stock” in the US and Canada, while it’s listed as “No longer available” in the UK. We’ve reached out to Google for confirmation on the Pixel Slate getting discontinued.
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