With a 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 9 expected to hit the market before September, the question is, who needs an Android tablet? The increasing size of the screens on newer high-end handsets is one of the reasons for declining tablet sales globally. In addition, tablet owners don’t look to upgrade to a new slate every two to three years. With this background, Google has quietly removed
With a 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 9 expected to hit the market before September, the question is, who needs an Android tablet? The increasing size of the screens on newer high-end handsets is one of the reasons for declining tablet sales globally. In addition, tablet owners don’t look to upgrade to a new slate every two to three years. With this background, Google has quietly removed the tablet section from the Android website. Since Google didn’t unveil a reference tablet for Android P this year, it is a move that the company has foreshadowed.
Without Google’s support, we probably won’t be seeing a new batch of Android powered slates from major manufacturers any time soon. According to IDC, 163.5 million tablets were shipped world-wide last year, a 6.5% decline from 2016’s numbers. Apple still has the most popular tablet line, and Google is apparently giving up on Android versions of the device. Meanwhile, there is some talk that Google would like to see more manufacturers turn to Chrome OS to run their tablets. Since the latter supports Android apps, this is most likely the future of Google supported slates. Back in March, Acer introduced the Chromebook Tab 10, the first tablet to run on Chrome OS.
You can see what the tablet section on the Android site looked like before it was removed by checking out the image at the top of this article.
