Google has told developers that Googlebook, its new laptop platform, will soon include detachables: tablets with a keyboard that comes off. Every Googlebook sold so far is a clamshell or a convertible.
The remark came during the Wednesday developer keynote at Android Dev Summit 2026, where Google described the platform as spanning “clamshells, convertibles, and soon detachables”. No model, price or date for a detachable was given.
Five laptops on sale, none of them a tablet
The launch lineup has five machines from Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer. Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo each sent a clamshell (Googlebook 14 for Asus and HP, XPS Googlebook for Dell, Googlebook 15 for Lenovo). Only Acer’s Googlebook 14, priced at $899, bends into tent and tablet modes. Google’s own store page lists the range.
9to5Google pointed out that the software still has gaps for a pure tablet. Held upright in tablet mode, a fullscreen app will rotate to portrait, yet the launcher, the Overview screen and the app drawer stay locked to landscape. Google clearly has some work left before a detachable can ship.
Lenovo is the likely first
The first detachable is expected to come from Lenovo. Images leaked in July showed a Lenovo tablet with a keyboard cover, a kickstand and a Glowbar light strip next to the camera, alongside a smaller laptop. Lenovo has announced neither.
The larger open question is what happens to high-end Android tablets. If Googlebook OS gets a tablet layout, it would offer a more desktop-like experience than Android does today, though 9to5Google expects Android tablets to keep a place.
Google has not said when the first detachable will go on sale.
