Google has officially ended support for the original Chromecast launched a decade ago. The $35 streaming stick has been quite popular since its launch in 2013. This came to the notice of many when a message announcing the end of support came up on various Google support pages. 9to5Google brought attention to this message and it reads as given below-
“Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended.”
“These devices no longer receive software or security updates, and Google does not provide technical support for them. Users may notice a degradation in performance.” -Google
It seems like they withdrew support at the end of April while a support page listing firmware versions for each Chromecast model was last updated. It is expected that the remaining first-generation Chromecasts will stop working all of a sudden. However, their overall functionality is mostly to slowly deteriorate with time as the ecosystem around them gets updated and moves on.
The original Chromecast was a tiny, key-sized device that was quite popular. It was designed to plug into an HDMI port on your TV and enables you to stream video content from your phone, tablet, or laptop to the big screen. It was available at the cost of $35. In a time many people weren’t shifting to smart TVs, Chromecast was an affordable hack for getting video streaming apps onto your TV.
Google would go on to roll out many more Chromecasts over the years. This includes a 4K model in 2016. The 2020 Chromecast with Google TV is the latest model. This model comes has added its remote to the equation. The streaming stick wasn’t simply depending on content fed by any smartphone but had an interface of its own. This definitely indicates a huge shift for the Chromecast lineup.
So now, officially Google withdraws support for the first-generation Chromecast. However, Google wasn’t updating the device regularly. 9to5Google reports that Google released the recent update last November. This was the first update released for the device over the last three years.
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