Google has just confirmed that a new version of the Chromebook Pixel is coming "soon." The Chromebook enthusiasts over at OMG! Chrome! caught the announcement during the "Google TeamWork 2015" event (Google has since made a YouTube video of the presentation private).

Renee Niemi, who has the wordy title of "Director of Android & Chrome, Google for Work," announced the news, saying:

We do have a new Pixel coming out and it will be coming out soon. We will be selling it but I just have to set your expectations. This is a development platform. This is really a proof of concept. We don’t make very many of these—we really don’t. And candidly, I think our developers and our Googlers consume 85 percent of what we produce. But yes, we do have a new Pixel coming out.

The Pixel is seen as the flagship Chromebook, but the original was released two years ago and is definitely showing its age. The fact that Google and developers make up about 85 percent of Pixel users isn't surprising. While normal Chromebooks are usually a few hundred dollars, the original Pixel started at $1,300.

With the premium price came a lot of forward-looking features, like a touchscreen and a high-resolution 2560×1700 display. Both hardware features were used to encourage Web developers to add touch and high-res support to their websites. It also gave such devs a platform to test on. The creation of a new Pixel most likely means that Google has more hardware gizmos it wants to pack into the device to help push the Web forward.

As for what a new Pixel might look like, Chrome has started to close the gap between Web apps and smartphone apps by adding support for smartphone hardware like GPS and accelerometers. Google has also been continually developing Chrome OS features aimed at a tablet, with things like a software keyboard, so perhaps the screen will be able to detach. We don't know exactly when a new Pixel will launch, but the first Pixel launched at Google I/O 2013. Google I/O 2015 is just a few months away.