If you bought a Pixel Tablet as a smart home hub, you won’t lose software support, but this is a real blow for anyone hoping Android tablets would get a genuine iPad competitor from Google. I actually find this quite interesting. Google may just be focusing its hardware efforts where it can compete more effectively against Apple (and partners like Samsung).
Google’s hardware product sprawl, coupled with rising component prices, makes me think they’re regrouping and consolidating around the products where they CAN really compete and differentiate.
I’m sure there is a Google following that will be disappointed. I’m going to be watching to see what Samsung does to fill the gap either through new products or augmenting their existing ones.