By some measures, Android is the most-used operating system on the planet. And Google achieved this act of domination in lower than 10 years, due to good selections throughout a basic shift within the nature of human communication. And the Nexus and Pixel traces, whereas not as dominant as different Android producers like Samsung or Xiaomi, are an enormous a part of that story. So why can’t Google stick the touchdown on any {hardware} apart from telephones?

Just a little context. A recent report from 9to5Google says that Google is making ready an enormous push for its Chromebook laptops later this 12 months, introducing the “Chromebook X” label as a transparent indication of high-end fashions. It’s much like Dell’s XPS line or Intel’s Evo certification, a approach for shoppers to shortly and simply inform a extra highly effective, premium Chromebook from the broad swaths of finances {hardware} that ChromeOS often seems on.

According to the leaks, Chromebook X branding can be current on each the {hardware} and software program, with minimal specs for reminiscence, high quality screens and webcams, and new-ish processors from AMD and Intel (Zen 2+ or Core twelfth gen on the oldest). Extra options within the OS itself, like time-shifting wallpapers, will add just a little bling to the expertise. While the worth vary for this new sub-brand isn’t precisely set in stone, 9to5Google estimates that it could begin across the $400 mark and go up.

There’s only one drawback: There’s no indication that Google will truly be making any of this {hardware}.

Pixelbook issues

That’s not a shock. Google has been pretty agency in its declaration that it’s out of the laptop computer enterprise (and the adjoining, high-end pill enterprise, for that matter). The final official Google product operating ChromeOS was the Pixel Slate, a competitor to the iPad Pro and Surface traces that’s thought-about a flop even amongst Google followers.

Before that the Pixelbook Go was well-received, however too costly in comparison with different Chromebooks with comparable capabilities. “Too expensive” is a well-recognized descriptor for non-phone Google {hardware}, as the identical label was utilized to the much more premium Pixelbook, and the unique Chromebook Pixel, going all the way in which again to 2013.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

But whereas these laptops had been tiny when it comes to precise market share, they loom massive within the brief historical past of ChromeOS as a platform. That’s as a result of they’re the flagships, Google’s try to point out each shoppers and producers what ChromeOS is able to if you truly make investments actual design chops into the {hardware}, not simply slapping the (principally) open-source OS on finances {hardware}. Even the Pixel Slate, flop that it was, demonstrated that Chrome can work on a primarily touch-based interface. Without it, I doubt we’d have wonderful hybrid pill devices just like the Lenovo Chromebook Duet.

Google wants a halo product

And it’s not as if Google wants this lesson. Samsung, and arguably Apple, have been pushed to larger heights of {hardware} simply primarily based on the existence of the Pixel cellphone line. Google’s cellular cameras are up there with the most effective within the business, exhibiting the significance of picture processing over merely cramming in as many megapixels as potential. Microsoft’s Surface line is its halo product (no pun meant), demonstrating the most recent and best in each Windows capabilities and the path during which Microsoft sees PC pill and laptop computer bodily design going.

Samsung / Amazon

Chromebook X is sensible as a branding push proper now. Despite being in the marketplace for over a decade and some high-end choices just like the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, Chromebooks are nonetheless largely seen as budget-only choices for customers who don’t want energy or functionality. But Google is attempting to shed this notion, even going as far as to supply “gaming” Chromebooks that may run Steam. And there are a couple of premium fashions in the marketplace, although “premium” means “up to about $1,000” on this context.

Google

But if Google actually needs to promote the concept Chromebooks may be greater than fleet machines for colleges and “browser in a box” finances laptops, it wants to come back again to the {hardware} itself, prefer it recently did with the Pixel Tablet for Android tablets. Nothing says “I’m ready to expand my horizons” like exhibiting it in pure {hardware}. Sadly, Google’s current post-pandemic push for cost-cutting might be why it’s going to ameliorate the chance of this branding push, by placing it on the shoulder of third-party producers. So as a lot as I’d wish to see a real return of the Pixelbook, I gained’t maintain my breath.