Google has announced that it will no longer provide updates for third-party smart displays. Therefore, the devices made by Lenovo, JBL and LG in the last five years would no longer be supported. The announcement was rather made indirectly as it came out of a Google support article for Duo calls on a smart display.
Google Will No Longer Make Software Updates, But Smart Displays Should Keep Working
As reported by 9to5Google, the search engine giant revealed that it has already stopped supporting third-party smart displays from Lenovo, JBL and LG. The announcement was only included as an "Important" notice in the Google support article for making Duo calls on speakers and smart displays.
"Important: 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," the Google support page states.
As per Gizmodo, the announcement was somehow unexpected given Google's actions towards third-party devices over the past few years. It should be noted, however, that ending support for smart displays does not mean that these devices will also stop functioning. Users can no longer expect new features and software updates, but these devices should still work like they used to.
The Lenovo, JBL and LG-powered smart displays were launched by Google alongside Assistant on screen. Hence, these devices were made for the purpose of introducing Google Assistant to the public, making them much more than third-party devices.
Google's partnership with other tech makers to establish its Smart Home lineup began in 2018 with Lenovo. This partnership gave birth to Smart Display 8 and 10, which carried out Google Assistant's campaign against Amazon's digital assistant, Alexa. It was proven to be a worthy competitor to Alexa as Google Assistant was able to perform tasks like answering the user's questions and guiding through cooking recipes on screen.
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Google Ends Its Support for Third-Party Devices as the Tech Giant Shifts Focus to AI
Smart displays have been successful in introducing Google Assistant's capabilities. However, the competition with Amazon's Alexa eventually died down, as well as the hype for digital assistants. With this, Google has only provided a few updates for smart display devices. When the Big Tech disabled the web browser on smart displays not running on Nest Hub, some tech analysts speculate that the day would come when Google stops supporting third-party devices.
According to The Verge, Google's recent stance on third-party hardware shows that the company is no longer interested in rebuilding its Assistant feature. As the new generation becomes more entangled with AI technology, Google appears to be shifting its focus on its own generative AI products, starting with Bard.
It has been reported that the engineering vice president of the Google Assistant team, Amar Subramanya, would take on a new role in the Bard team. This only confirms the speculations that Google might be ready to let go of its digital assistant feature.
