Google is finally selling the Pixel Tablet without a dock

Google’s next midrange phone, the Pixel 8a, is available for preorder right now. It looks impressive: for $500, it offers the same Tensor G3 chipset as the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, a 120Hz display, and seven years of software updates. But there’s another, slightly more surprising new Google offering up for grabs starting today: last year’s Pixel Tablet, without its trademark Charging Speaker Dock, now available for preorder for $399.

Ever since the Pixel Tablet was announced, I’ve thought Google should do exactly this. The two-in-one functionality the tablet offers when paired with its dock is novel, but only for shoppers who want both a tablet and a smart display. Glad as I am to see Google doing what it can to make its tablet more competitive, I think this new dockless option — priced at $400 and released almost a year after the tablet initially launched — might be too little too late.

A dockless Pixel Tablet makes a lot of sense

At $499, the original Pixel Tablet offering, the one bundled with the Charging Speaker Dock, always struck me as a bit too pricey for what you get. I’m fully on board with part of Google’s stated reasoning for bundling the dock: that tablets tend to sit idle for days or even weeks at a stretch, and are consequently often dead when we reach for them. The dock both keeps the tablet charged and ready for use, and lets it function as a smart display and digital photo frame when you’re not holding the thing. It’s clever.

But despite the unique form factor, the experience of actually using the Pixel Tablet, either handheld as a tablet or stationary as a smart display, just doesn’t feel like it should cost half a grand. The tablet itself, with its 60Hz display, dated hardware design, and Tensor G2 chipset, feels firmly midrange, and the audio produced by the Charging Speaker Dock isn’t up to par with most of Google’s other speakers.

So, also selling the tablet by itself for less money makes perfect sense: there are plenty of people who will want a midrange Google tablet, but who wouldn’t care to have it double as a smart display, and the lower price point makes the Pixel Tablet all the more appealing for those buyers.

But there’s serious competition at $399

The à la carte Pixel Tablet’s price tag might not be low enough to pull in shoppers who aren’t already interested in Google hardware. At $399, the Pixel Tablet undercuts its most relevant competition: both the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and the 10th-generation iPad, each of which goes for $450 at retail.

But that’s at retail. Both the latest FE and the newest entry-level iPad are regularly available for a full $100 under MSRP (that’s $350) at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, and each has some major advantages over the Pixel Tablet. The Tab S9 FE has a 90Hz display to the Pixel Tablet’s 60, and it’s IP68 water- and dust-resistant; the Pixel Tablet has no IP rating. It also comes with an S Pen stylus. The 10th-gen iPad offers faster performance and the App Store’s wealth of tablet-optimized apps, plus access to a wide array of Apple’s high-quality (if pricey) first-party accessories. And both competing options beat Google’s tablet when it comes to materials and build quality.

In fact, the Pixel Tablet bundled with the dock has been available for $399 more than once — most recently for a three-week stretch this March and April. I don’t think anyone should be obligated to buy the charging dock, but I do think the Pixel Tablet should cost less — with or without it. Given the state of competition and the Pixel Tablet experience, I’d be happy to see the tablet on its own go for $349 and the bundle with the dock for $429 — and I think Google would sell a lot more of them at those prices. (Additional charging docks, currently retailing for an unconscionable $129 apiece, could be sold for a more reasonable $99.)

The Pixel Tablet sans dock will surely go on sale in the near future, too, bringing its price down to more effectively compete with Samsung and Apple. Still, I think Google could’ve skipped a step here and cut retail prices a little more aggressively — the Tensor G2-powered Pixel Tablet is hardly made of bleeding-edge components.

You can preorder the Pixel Tablet without a dock for $399 starting today.