We might only get one model after all
Back in September, developer Kuba Wojciechowski shared his finding that the Android 13 QPR1 Beta 1 code contained references to a second model of Google’s upcoming Pixel Tablet. At the time, Wojciechowski believed that there were two versions of the Pixel Tablet in development, referred to internally as tangor and tangorpro. Now, he’s tweeted that only one of the two will actually make it to market — the pro version.
In a Twitter thread posted today, Wojciechowski says that the Pixel Tablet being developed as tangor packed a first-generation Tensor CPU, while tangorpro uses the Tensor G2 chipset found in Google’s Pixel 7 phones. The version of tangor being developed with Google’s first-generation Tensor CPU has been canceled, according to Wojciechowski, with Google opting to press ahead in developing the Pixel Tablet around the Tensor G2. “The Pixel Tablet that’s gonna be released this year is the ‘pro’ with Tensor G2 and no other major hardware changes,” Wojciechowski writes.
Wojciechowski shared other specs for Google’s upcoming tablet, too. Crediting an anonymous source, he says the Pixel Tablet “as tested” has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Taken with the included Tensor G2 chipset, that might mean the tablet will launch at a higher price point than we were initially expecting; the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 with eight gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage retails for $780, and that tablet doesn’t include a charging dock. The Pixel Tablet’s display will have a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600, according to Wojciechowski, and is likely to be an LCD panel rather than OLED. Considering the tablet’s presumed dual functionality as a smart display, that makes sense.
We also got a few new images of the Pixel Tablet in the flesh, but they don’t tell us much we didn’t know from the prototype of the device that popped up on Facebook Marketplace in December. Like that prototype Pixel Tablet, the tablet in these newer images also has black bezels, as opposed to the lighter version we’ve seen in Google’s promo imagery so far. Hopefully that means both looks make it to store shelves.
It’s still not clear when exactly the Pixel Tablet is launching; all Google’s said so far is that it intends to bring the tablet to market sometime this year.
