Comment: Apple killed Google’s Pixel Tablet ‘relaunch’ before it even happened

Ben Schoon | May 8 2024 - 5:15 am PT

Yesterday Google announced that the Pixel Tablet would be available for sale without a dock, effectively re-launching the tablet for an entirely new type of customer. It would have been a bit exciting, had Apple not set a new bar for tablets just hours prior.

Google re-launched the Pixel Tablet at a new starting price of $399. Nothing changed about the tablet itself, but Google now sells it without the speaker dock. That cuts down the price, and also makes the tablet a little bit more appealing as a tablet versus a smart home hub. It’s something that many have been asking for since the beginning, and it also came with better availability in other countries, as well as adjusted pricing in areas such as the UK, where Google’s tablet was disproportionally expensive.

There were no accessories joining the tablet as was briefly expected, though, which did cut down on the appeal of the standalone device just a bit.

But the bigger problem Google faced was the timing.

Merely two hours earlier Apple held an event to launch a new lineup of iPads. The new iPad Air and iPad Pro models are powerful and exciting, but they’re also still expensive. The most exciting announcement came at the end of the presentation.

The 10th Gen iPad is now $349, a huge price cut from its previous $449 price.

That new base model flips the script on Apple’s tablet lineup. Where the cheapest iPad was previously one with an outdated home button design, the new model has USB-C, smaller bezels, support for the newer Apple Pencil, and more.

And all for $349.

At that price, it’s virtually impossible to recommend the Pixel Tablet at $399. It’s just an objectively worse tablet for more money. The Tensor G2 chip inside isn’t as fast. The battery life isn’t as good. And the apps are also a far cry from what’s found on iPadOS (more accurately known as iOS). The conversation is a bit different for Google’s slate when you factor in the dock, because then it’s acting as two devices in one. But as a simple standalone device, there’s just no competition.

Google was giving the Pixel Tablet a second chance, but Apple killed it.

Will that stop Google from trying another tablet? Probably not, seeing as it’s in the pipeline, but this just goes to show that Google really has its work cut out for it in the tablet market.