Newsletter
As reported by 9to5Google, the 2014 Google Nexus 9 and the 2015 Google Pixel C tablets lose the support of streaming HD content on Netflix.
Netflix, one of the biggest online video streaming platforms, does not support HD streaming on every device. In fact, there are some criteria that a device needs to fulfill in order to view the content in its highest resolution.
Moreover, not every Android device has a good enough HD screen required to stream HD Netflix content. The same is the case with Google’s two older tablets, the Google Nexus 9 and Pixel C.
To give you some more clarity, Netflix timely updates and maintains a list of Android phones and tablets that can play videos in HD as well as HDR.
Yesterday, this list was updated and as you may have already guessed, both the Google Nexus 9 and Pixel C have been removed from the page. FYI, these are the last Google-branded tablets.
Well, this is not the first time certain Android devices have been dropped from this list. Earlier this year, Netflix dropped the HD streaming support for the Nexus 7, which also happen to be the first Android tablet to support Netflix streaming in HD.
Devices launched alongside Nexus 9 and Pixel C still support HD Netflix streaming
Google launched the Google Nexus 9 tablet alongside the Google Nexus 6 phone, back in 2014. Whereas, the Google Pixel C tablet was launched, a few months after the Google Nexus 6P phone in 2015.
Interestingly, both the Google Nexus 6 and 6P smartphone support HD streaming on Netflix and are listed in the official supported devices. Which is kinda strange.
At this point, owners of the Google Nexus 9 and Pixel C should still be able to watch TV shows and movies on Netflix. However, streaming will be limited to 480p, which is also called SD (standard definition) streaming.
We are not sure how the owners of Nexus 9 and Pixel C would take this move by Netflix to curb both the tablets from HD streaming on its platform. But they won’t be too happy either.
One point to note is that if this move Netflix to remove both Android tablets from the HD streaming support list is because of Widevine DRM, then it is likely that these tablets won’t be able to play HD content on other platforms as well.
As already mentioned, Netflix timely updates its list of supported devices. For a complete and updated list of the devices that support HD or HDR streaming on Netflix, you can head over here.