Google may have a new Android tablet on the way, but it won’t be part of the Nexus family. According to Android Police, the next Google tablet will be called the Pixel C.

Like a Google Chromebook Pixel, the tablet will be designed by Google and you won’t find the name of another manufacturer on the product. But while the Chromebook Pixel is a laptop with Google’s Chrome OS software, the Pixel C will reportedly be an Android tablet which doesn’t have a built-in keyboard (although it’ll support optional keyboard covers).

chromebook pixel light-bar

So why launch a Pixel tablet? Google isn’t saying yet (which isn’t surprising, since the company hasn’t officially confirmed that there is a Pixel tablet). But it’s likely that an Android-powered Pixel device will have premium materials and a premium price tag.

The Chromebook Pixel line of laptops ain’t exactly cheap: but Google doesn’t seem to care if it sells a lot of them or not. These laptops show what a high-quality Chrome OS laptop looks like, and they’re basically designed for Google employees to use… but the company produces some extras for anyone else willing to pay a high price for one.

If the specs reported by Android Police are accurate, the Pixel C could serve a similar purpose. The tablet has a metal case, 10.2 inch display with 302 pixels per inch, an NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a USB Type-C port. It’s said to run Android 6.0 MarshMallow software. It’ll also have a Chromebook Pixel-like light-bar on the back which can display battery life statistics.

The tablet is code-named Ryu… which makes me wonder if it was always supposed to be an Android device.

Earlier this summer Google’s François Beaufort noted that there was a new dev board called Ryu mentioned in the Chromium open source repository, suggesting that the Pixel C might have begun its life as a Chrome OS tablet before Google decided to load up the device with Android instead.

While Chrome OS supports laptops and 2-in-1 systems with touchscreen displays, no company has released a keyboard-less tablet running the operating system so far.

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11 replies on “Report: Google Pixel C will be a premium 10 inch Android tablet”

  1. Removable Storage??? Remember, there is nothing “Premium” about a device that puts handcuffs on you…

  2. That would be strange. Why call it Pixel and not Nexus? Is the idea that Nexus devices are co-designed and co-branded by other companies while Pixel devices are Google products?
    There are already some decent higher end Android tablets from Sony and Samsung. It’s hard to picture where such a device might be priced and what it might comprise to truly fill some new reasonable niche.
    Unless there is something truly unique with the software (perhaps it runs both Android and ChromeOS?) then I just don’t get it.

      1. Yes but up until now Google Pixel devices showcased market niches which were completely unserved by other makers. Namely – high end Chromebooks.
        There are higher end Android Tablets already. It’s difficult to think they could be targeting anything pricier than those offerings already in the market with only a 10.2″ screen.

        1. It would still be useful to help add publicity of android tablets (android is dominating on tablets these days, but it could still do with more awareness), and allows Google to guide the android market with their vision. Plus it’s useful for fans of stock android.

          Consider how the Surface is useful, even though there are plenty of other windows 2-in-1s.

          1. Well, now we see what it is anyway. I have to admit it looks outstanding with some very clever design work which carries form from function. I’m a fan though I don’t need such a device.
            I’d probably have been more interested in it as a ChromeOS device.

  3. maybe it’s a tablet with piwel xi screen
    remember the pixel xi ceo work now in google

    1. I remember that tech a few years ago. Has it gotten better for color representation? Also, the C I think is apart of Google’s new naming scheme. Nexus 5X, 6P, Pixel C. Because Google is under Alphabet. I know. So creative.

  4. Sounds cool. A lot of people have been thinking for a while that ChromeOS and Android should be merged in some way. Maybe a device like this could have the Google services and productivity ease of a Chromebook but under Android.

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