Google Officially Discontinues Chromebook Pixel 2

Google’s Chromebook Pixel 2, the company’s second-generation premium Chrome OS-powered laptop, has officially been discontinued, VentureBeat has confirmed. The Chromebook Pixel 2 is now out of stock from the Google Store and is no longer available from Best Buy.

The Chromebook Pixel 2 was released back in February 2015, and it was sold for $1,299. A cheaper variant that costs $999 was also made available at the same time, but that was discontinued in April. The Pixel 2 stood out from its 2013 predecessor for having a touchscreen, a feature that will surely be sought after when Android apps will be available on Chrome OS.

“We’re committed to the Pixel program but we don’t have plans to restock the Pixel 2,” a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

The team behind the Pixel 2 was also responsible for the design of the Pixel C, Google’s first-party tablet running Android. It’s possible that Google is focusing more on bringing Android to its Pixel products instead of Chrome OS, as speculated by ArsTechnica. This could also be a precursor to the company’s plans to merge Chrome OS and Android into a single operating system.

There’s a possibility that Google will release a successor to the Pixel 2 as some point, but it may be an Android tablet much akin to the Pixel C. Another possibility is that the next generation Pixel-branded laptop could be a Chromebook that’s already capable of downloading and running Android apps from the Play Store.

If Google is planning a Chromebook Pixel 3, it might not be released until the spring of 2017. The original Pixel was released in 2013, then the Pixel 2 was released in 2015. Google might stick to that release schedule, as pointed out by PCWorld.

Right now, users will have to seek out other alternatives if they want a premium Chromebook. Users can look forward to buying other Chromebooks from manufacturers like HP, Acer, Asus, Dell and Lenovo.