I still don’t really get Android tablets. They seem to sell in decent numbers, but its never really been clear to me where they fit in the tablet market. They don’t have the vast tablet-optimized ecosystem of apps like iPadOS (though that’s slowly changing), and they aren’t as open (in terms of capability) as Windows on the Surface Pro. That may soon be changing if recent reports from Android Authority are to be believed.

Google reportedly plans to merge ChromeOS into Android as a way to consolidate and focus development efforts (smart) and better compete with the iPad (huh?).

Google’s Interesting History With Tablets

After initially taking more of a hands off approach while Samsung and others built the first tablets running Android, Google started engaging with both Motorola and Asus to build flagship devices for this emerging product category. They also developed a tablet optimized interface for Android 3.0, code named Honeycomb. Android Honeycomb only ran on tablets, and these optimizations would be merged into mainline Android with version 4.

The flagship device for the Honeycomb release was the Motorola Xoom, a ten inch landscape oriented tablet. This was followed by the release of the seven inch Nexus 7 tablet, which Google developed in partnership with ASUS. Up to this point, most Android tablets had displays that were in the neighborhood of seven inches. This was also true of the Nexus 7, but the difference was that it was actually good. Really good. In response, Apple released the iPad Mini so as to not miss out on what was becoming the hottest segment of the tablet market.

Unfortunately, Google’s tablet commitment would start to wane. Google would release more Android tablets (Nexus 10, Nexus 9, Pixel C), as well as the Pixel Slate tablet, which ran ChromeOS, before abandoning the development of first party tablet hardware.

As their Pixel phones have gained more and more momentum, Google decided to re-enter the tablet market with the release of the Pixel Tablet in 2023.

Strangely enough, a recent set of unconfirmed rumors claim that the upcoming Pixel Tablet 2 will be the last in the line, as Google has supposedly cancelled the Pixel Tablet 3. Or maybe they actually cancelled the Pixel Tablet 2? This is getting confusing, but certainly calls into question this renewed focus on tablets.

Since the Nexus 7, Google has been unable to provide a compelling tablet that could compete with higher end iPad on performance, productivity, and ease of use.

How Exactly Is ChromeOS Going To Help Compete With the iPad?

The ChromeOS merger into Android will bring laptop-like windowing, Linux app support, and even a proper terminal. Which is interesting for a mobile OS, as they have so far found success by omitting or obscuring the complexity generally associated with laptop operating systems.

I’m really struggling to see how this enhanced version of Android will compete with the iPad. All this does is make Android behave more like a traditional laptop. And if that’s the experience iPad users really wanted, the Surface Pro has been right there for years. There’s no way Android is going to be better than the Surface at laptop-y tasks.

The iPad has found its success because it’s a simpler and more focused device. Its multitasking model is not for everyone, but many of us embrace it. With more of a laptop focus, this ChromeOS/Android hybrid isn’t likely to lead to better Android tablets or more tablet optimized apps. Its going to lead to Android tablets that feel like watered-down Surface Pros. If we’ve learned anything from Samsung Dex, it’s that even with “better” multitasking, without full featured apps to take advantage of it, there’s not much user benefit. Giving users a laptop interface without their laptop apps is kind of a tease. Linux apps help here a little, but there are still many popular pro apps that don’t support the OS.

A MacBook Competitor? Sure, kinda sorta

This merged OS approach seems mostly intended for the rumored Pixel Laptop. ChromeOS has only really made inroads on the low end of the market If the goal is to push farther upstream, maybe an Android laptop will succeed where high-end Chromebooks have failed. I hope so. It’s never fun with Apple is the only viable alternative in a product category. But again, without the same quality of apps that are on Windows, macOS, or even iPadOS, I struggle to see how Google is going to find meaningful success with an Android powered Pixel Laptop.