It seems like a lie, but It will soon be 10 years since Google launched the first Chromecaston July 24, 2013. Initially only available in the US market, in Spain we had to wait until March 2014 before we were able to get our hands on the ingenious device, which for just 35 euros started to make a huge difference in the way we watch TV until used at the time.

Let’s recall that at that time smart TVs were still a minority option and generally very expensive, but that the HDMI connector had already become quite popular, so the vast majority of models on the market at that time already had at least one record of this type. So while getting a smart TV was a big blow to most people’s pockets, the small but useful and versatile Chromecast was able to transfer said information from other devices to the televisionand for only 35 euros.

Later came new generations., as well as versions with more features, such as the still very present Chromecast Ultra, which, in addition to HDR support, made the leap to 4K resolution. And we are also experiencing the arrival of the second and third generation of the “normal” Chromecast, i.e. the one that did not scale so much in terms of image quality, but on the other hand was a friendlier option for all budgets. . Of course, its success led to the appearance of a large number of devices from other manufacturers, although today we can say that only Amazon’s Fire Stick was able to compete in this market segment.

Everything that begins has an end. So as we can read in Google9to5, Google has ended support for the 1st generation Chromecast and subsequently will no longer receive any further updates of any kind. The message he links to, which doesn’t appear on the Spanish support page at least for now, suggests the following:

«Support [técnico] for Chromecast (1st generation) has ended, which means that these devices no longer receive software or security updates, and Google does not offer technical support for them. Users may experience reduced performance.»

As surprising as it may seem, quite a few 1st generation Chromecast units are still in use, only in my immediate vicinity I know at least two of them, which are still a very suitable option for the televisions in which they are used. However, it makes sense that Google is thinking that users should switch to Chromecast with Google TV, which first saw the light of day in 2020 (in fact, it went on sale before it was publicly announced), which turns CastOS into a personalized version of Android, and which, in addition to remote control, allows the installation of applications and its price starts at 39.99 euros.