Google is discontinuing the Daydream VR headset, pointing to the lack of adoption.

The company made the announcement after revealing the Pixel 4 smartphone will launch without support for the Daydream VR platform.

"We saw a lot of potential in smartphone VR—being able to use the smartphone you carry with you everywhere to power an immersive on-the-go experience. But over time we noticed some clear limitations constraining smartphone VR from being a viable long-term solution," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

As a result, Google will no longer sell the Daydream View VR headset in its online store. "There also hasn't been the broad consumer or developer adoption we had hoped, and we've seen decreasing usage over time of the Daydream View headset," the spokesperson added.

The Daydream product first arrived in 2016 as a way to let supporting Android smartphones power an afforable virtual reality headset at $79. The approach reduced the overall cost of purchasing a VR product by offloading the processing to the consumer's smartphone. But according to Google, the setup also came with a trade-off. "Asking people to put their phone in a headset and lose access to the apps they use throughout the day causes immense friction," Google's spokesperson said.

Despite the phaseout, the company still plans on making the Daydream app and store available to existing users. Google also remains bullish on augmented reality experiences, which can overlay virtual images into your smartphone's camera feed.

"We're investing heavily in helpful AR experiences like Google Lens, AR walking navigation in Maps, and AR in Search that use the smartphone camera to bridge the digital and physical worlds, helping people do more with what they see and learn about the world around them," the company's spokesperson added.

As for the Daydream platform, developers can still publish apps to it. Last year, Lenovo built a $399 standalone headset using Google's Daydream platform. But it remains unclear whether today's announcement will cause the company to change its VR plans. Lenovo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.