Google has now dropped a hint for its next-generation Pixel-branded Chrome device at this year’s Cloud Next 2019 event, appearing to indicate that its new gadget is definitely on the way. The session put on by the search giant centered around the business-side of things and the company hasn’t dropped any substantial details about the gadget itself just yet. The focus for the hardware will center around keeping users ‘productive on-the-go’.
Given that the companies run-down of past devices leading up to its future offerings focused relatively heavily on specifications and maintaining a high standard on that front, it’s safe to say its next-gen device will likely be even more powerful. That also doesn’t seem to be the top priority either.
Instead, Google spent its time outlining the ways Chrome OS has helped move workers out of the office and accomplish tasks more smoothly over the cloud. In particular, the company says its original Pixelbook was aimed at business executives, training teams, and workers responsible for IT management and tasks.
Its latest device, the Google Pixel Slate, was intended to push that further by enabling a more useful, convenient experience for customer-facing workers. That includes medical professionals, traveling employees, creative workers, and others who deal more directly with customers and clients.
For the next iteration in that progression, the company wants to adjust for a workforce comprised of 60-percent of users spending their working day away from the office and 43-percent who work remotely at least part-time. Exactly what that means for Chrome OS features and the incoming hardware remains to be seen.
So what’s with the cuts?
The chances that Google is suddenly going to drop its Chrome OS endeavors completely are slim-to-none at this point, given its almost meteoric rise in the education and business sectors or the recent resurgence in premium and Intel-alternative third-party hardware. That doesn’t mean the latest news won’t bring a sense of assurance for fans of the operating system.
Long-viewed as something of a pinnacle in the Chrome OS world, Pixel-branded hardware from Google has consistently served as a top-tier guide for other OEMs to follow when implementing their own builds despite comparatively lackluster sales. Concerns recently surfaced about the security of its ongoing efforts in that space when the company began shuffling employees away from units responsible for the hardware earlier this year.
The resulting confusion about those cuts, with workers being moved to other divisions or more ominously to temporary jobs within the wider Alphabet workforce, only seemed to worsen approximately a week later. In short, various reports began to point out the fact that its budget-model Pixel Slate had still not surfaced in Google’s online shop despite being launched back in October and promised before last year’s end.
Competition in that segment of the market has only grown in the meantime, leading some to speculate that Google might have given up on Chrome OS hardware entirely. There’s still no explanation for why the cuts were made though so it may be that the search giant will be launching far fewer products than initially planned.
Not dead yet
Google has now all but confirmed that it has no plans to exit the market it has created for cloud-first laptop computers and, speculation aside, that it plans to improve on the founding principles of that platform further.
The new push from Google to reassert its dominance in the above-mentioned market will most likely avoid taking center-stage and be kept well under wraps until the company’s 2019 Made by Google event. That ordinarily takes place in October, leaving plenty of time for more leaks and rumors about the gadget to leak in the leadup to its launch.
