We're coming up to a year since the Google Pixel Tablet was first announced, and so it's fair to say that it's been a long time coming. Now a listing posted to Amazon, apparently in error, has revealed some of the specs, the pricing, and the on-sale date for the device.
There is a caveat though: this listing (via 9to5Google) was on the Amazon Japan site before it got pulled. Still, it gives us some useful clues as to how this tablet might be priced and made available across the rest of the world as well.
The specs are listed as a Tensor G2 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. The screen, meanwhile, is a 10.95-inch affair, with a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution and 500 nits of brightness. Battery life covers 12 hours of video watching, apparently, and there are 8MP cameras on the front and the back.
June 20 pic.twitter.com/6hE7eu9Lo1May 7, 2023
Price and date
We can see from the pictures attached to the listing that we'll get at least two colors: Porcelain (a sort of beige and white combo) and Hazel (green and black). As previously rumored, the tablet is going to come with ultra-wideband (UWB) support, which enables simple short-range communication between devices.
The starting price is pegged at ¥79,800: Google won't use a straight currency conversion in other countries, but that works out as $590 / £470 / AU$870. For comparison, the entry-level iPad will set you back ¥68,800, so this comes in as slightly more expensive.
Then there's the on-sale date, which looks to be June 20 in Japan. It's difficult to predict if that will be the same worldwide, but it shouldn't be any later than that in other regions. This coming Wednesday, May 10, we have the Google IO 2023 keynote – and we should get more information about the tablet then.
Analysis: don't forget the tablet
We're expecting a whole host of announcements to be made at Google IO 2023 this week: the Pixel 7a, the Pixel Fold, lots of AI innovations, the Pixel Watch 2, Android 14... the list goes on. In that sort of company you'd be forgiven for thinking that the final Pixel Tablet reveal isn't going to be one of the most important we see on Wednesday.
However, this is a big deal for Google. It's the first tablet that it's launched with the Pixel branding, and so it's something of a step into the unknown – is there a demand for an affordable-ish Android tablet from Google?
It's also clearly going to double up as a smart home hub, with its optional stand and speaker dock, and so the device is set to be an important cog in the overall hardware ecosystem that Google has been putting together.
There aren't a whole lot of great Android tablets out there, though slates like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 and Amazon Fire HD 8 have a certain appeal. With Google now involved, we're hoping that Android becomes a serious proposition on larger screens, and that more app developers cater for bigger displays as well.
