Three years after its launch, the Chromecast Audio has officially been discontinued.
Google today confirmed that it has stopped making the Chromecast Audio. "Our product portfolio continues to evolve, and now we have a variety of products for users to enjoy audio. We have therefore stopped manufacturing our Chromecast Audio products," the company said in a statement to 9to5Google. "We will continue to offer assistance for Chromecast Audio devices, so users can continue to enjoy their music, podcasts and more."
The Chromecast Audio was first launched at the end of 2015 as a way to easily beam music, podcasts, and other audio to a speaker that may not be connected to the internet. When we reviewed the Chromecast Audio, we said that the sound quality was much better than Bluetooth and that the range was great, too, since it uses Wi-Fi for streaming. You can also group multiple Chromecast Audio devices together to get multi-room audio.
Unfortunately, while Google did recently refresh the regular Chromecast, the Chromecast Audio didn't get the same treatment. It's possible that there just aren't as many people looking for a way to stream audio to their speakers, especially with the rise of smart speakers that can directly stream audio and act as Bluetooth speakers.
The good news is that if you are interested in the Chromecast Audio, you can still buy one from Google as of this writing. What's more, the device is $20 off through February 28, leaving it at a price of just $15.
Do you own a Chromecast Audio?