The folks at PetaPixel noticed a new banner over the Nik Collection site recently, explaining Google will continue offering the popular software suite it acquired back in 2012, but it would no longer be updated. Google got a lot of positive attention for buying Nik and making the $150 professional photo editing software free, but the real reason behind the purchase was to improve the editing features of Google Photos and Snapseed.
This move obviously doesn't make any huge difference to most Android users, who have been benefiting from Nik software for the last couple of years, but it does make Google's priorities even more clear. Image quality from the crazy good sensor on the Pixel and quick, simple edits through Photos and Snapseed are going to continue to be a huge focus. That's great news for anyone eager to see image quality on phones continue to improve, but maybe not the best news for people hoping Google cared about more than just phones.
