Google’s Chromebook Pixel lineup did for Chromebooks what the Nexus did for Android devices, which means that relatively few will be sad to hear that Google’s hardware head, Rick Osterloh, told a small group of journalists at MWC that the Chromebook Pixel lineup has been discontinued for now, with no concrete plans to bring it back. The second iteration of the device was discontinued and sales through the Google store were stopped back in late August of last year, which means that the Chromebook Pixel is no longer officially available in any form, and probably will never be again. You can still score one from the likes of Amazon and eBay, but brand new units from Google are all sold out and won’t be coming back in stock, according to Osterloh.
For what it’s worth, Osterloh said in no uncertain terms that Google would continue their exploits in the laptop world with Chrome OS, just not in manufacturing their own hardware. The first Chromebook Pixel was the first touchscreen Chromebook, the second was the first to sport USB Type-C charging, and both had top specs and premium design that are still mostly a niche in the wide world of Chrome OS devices. Chromebooks were, much like the Nexus lineup, meant to show manufacturers what Google’s vision for the platform looked like.
For those who actually valued the premium Chromebook lineup that Google had created, the second iteration of the Chromebook Pixel has a good number of worthy successors, a testament to the fact that it did its job fairly well. The Samsung Chromebook Pro and Chromebook Plus are both powerful devices that boast beautiful designs, and the same can be said of a number of options on the market today. Just like Android, there are Chrome OS devices in just about every niche, from bottom of the barrel, to business beasts with wonderful keyboards, and hyper-premium pieces with top of the line specs that could even run Windows quite well, if somebody wanted to put Microsoft’s OS onto their fast solid state drives. The Chromebook Pixel is essentially no more, but the lack of a direct successor does not mean that there is any shortage of spiritual successors.