Do you own a smart display with Google Assistant? Well, brace for some bad news.
The tech giant quietly revealed that it will stop updating third-party Google Assistant-equipped smart displays from Lenovo, LG, and JBL.
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Google made the subtle announcement on the “Make Duo calls on your speaker & Smart Display” support page under an “Important Notice” saying:
Google no longer provides software updates for these third-party Smart Displays: Lenovo Smart Display (7″, 8″ & 10″), JBL Link View and LG Xboom AI ThinQ WK9 Smart Display. This could impact the quality of video calls and meetings.
Ending support for such products is quite fast considering that Google Assistant Smart Displays only came out in 2018. Albeit, it’s unsurprising considering the last third-party smart display that ever came out was way back in 2019 from Lenovo.
But if you own first-party products like the Nest Hub, you’re safe, as the new features developed for the category went exclusively to Google’s own.
It is said that Google is starting to pull back on its Google Assistant product as the team behind it was tasked to focus on Bard, the company’s generative AI that wants to compete with ChatGPT. They also want to refocus their energy on the Android experience both on mobile and tablet.