A message on Google's Chromecast firmware support page announced the wind-down of support, saying, "Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended, which means 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." The 1st-gen Chromecast launched in 2013 for $35.

Chromecast made it easy to beam Internet videos to your TV at a time when that was otherwise tricky. It had an HDMI plug built into the body and contained a Marvell Armada 1500-mini 88DE3005 system on a chip (SoC) running an ARM Cortex-A9 processor. The SoC included codecs for hardware decoding of the VP8 and H.264 video compression formats. Radio communication is handled by AzureWave NH–387 Wi-Fi which uses 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz). The model number H2G2-42 was a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. In the novel, the number 42 is the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything."

 The original Chromecast was the company's first successful piece of hardware and sold 10 million units in 2014. For years, the device was mentioned in Google earnings calls as the highlight of the company's hardware efforts