Pixel tablet, rings and glasses: This is not what Google is working on right now

Jan Johannsen

22/8/2025

Translation: machine translated

Google is considering what purpose tablets still have and is discussing smart glasses. The company currently has no interest in smart rings or folding smartphones.

As part of the presentation of the Pixel 10, Google's head of hardware Rick Osterloh conducted an interview with Bloomberg. It is particularly interesting to see in which product categories the company is currently holding back, although it is working on suitable software.

In search of the meaning and purpose of tablets

Google's Pixel tablet is now almost two years old. There is no successor yet and practically no rumours of a Pixel Tablet 2. The first Pixel Tablet with its speaker stand was primarily a control centre for smart homes. My former assessment «Google delivers a good tablet with the Pixel Tablet, but it does not fulfil its role as a flagship Android tablet.» Osterloh now indirectly confirms this in an interview with Bloomberg.

The redesign of the Pixel Tablet has been paused. Instead, the company is in the process of finding out what role tablets can play in the future. This is not yet a definitive cancellation, but there will only be another Pixel Tablet if it makes sense for Google. Until then, other manufacturers - especially Samsung as the leader in this field - are likely to benefit from the improvements to Android for large screens.

Google has just unveiled its own new folding smartphone, the Pixel 10 Fold /page/es-pixelt-zum-10-mal-das-sindie-vier-neue-smartphones-von-google-39020. In the smaller folding smartphone segment, which includes, for example, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 or the Razr Ultra 60, but Google currently has no ambitions at all.

Google Glass has an impact

With Android XR, Google announced at its Developer Conference I/O in May 2025 presented an operating system for VR headsets and smart glasses. However, the hardware came from other manufacturers. The disaster surrounding Google Glass seems to be having an effect here. The data protection debates at the time are no longer an issue. Nevertheless, according to Osterloh, Google is still discussing internally whether the company should bring out its own smart glasses. The alternative, like Meta, would be to rely solely on cooperation partners who use the company's own hardware.

In another area, the matter is clearer: Osterloh flatly denied that Google is currently working on a smart ring.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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