Rumor: Google is shrinking hardware teams for laptops and tablets

Google has reportedly asked dozens of members of its Create division to look for other positions within Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The Create division is responsible for the Pixelbook laptops and the Pixel Slate, among others.

The downsizing of the division has consequences for the roadmap of the Create division and it is expected that fewer products will be worked on. That reports a source familiar with the internal affairs at Google, to Business Insider. It concerns ‘several dozen’ technicians and project managers who would have been asked to seek refuge elsewhere within Alphabet.

The Create division is said to be working on various projects and it is not clear exactly what the consequences will be for projects and possible product lines. The Create division made the 2017 Pixelbook laptop and last year’s Pixel Slate tablet. Within Google, other hardware teams are responsible for the Pixel smartphones, Home devices and wearables. Google would group the hardware divisions internally under the name HWPA. Business Insider’s sources don’t mention any moves at divisions other than the Create business, nor would the move affect production of the current Pixelbook and Pixel Slate.

The first Pixel laptop was a luxury but expensive Chromebook released in 2013, and the first tablet, the Pixel C, followed in 2015. Google has had limited market share success with the products and internally there is said to be increasing pressure to hardware into a successful business unit.