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The Google Assistant will be making its way to more smartphones running Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat, Google confirmed on Sunday, shortly after LG unveiled the LG G6 and said it will also ship with the Google Assistant. The promotional image Google shared on this occasion that you can see above seemingly indicates that the company’s voice assistant will definitely be coming to the Galaxy S7 Edge, LG V20, and the HTC 10. Gummi Hafsteinsson, Google Assistant’s Product Lead revealed that the digital companion will start rolling out to English-speaking users in the United States this upcoming week, and the rollout will soon expand to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Apart from English, the AI helper will also be made available to German-speaking users in Germany, the company revealed. The Mountain View-based tech giant also promised that the Google Assistant will start supporting more languages and roll out in new territories over the course of this year, but no details on the matter have yet been given.
Hafsteinsson revealed that the Google Assistant will be distributed to all eligible devices running Android Marshmallow and Android Nougat as a part of the upcoming build of Google Play Services, the company’s digital distribution service for Android. Furthermore, the Alphabet-owned company will be showcasing how the Google Assistant runs on some partner devices at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Hafsteinsson confirmed that the Android Global Village at MWC will demonstrate the capabilities of the Google Assistant running on devices made by Samsung, Sony, Huawei, and HTC.
Google’s latest announcement confirms the rumors that were circulating the industry for a while now. It remains to be seen whether the Google Assistant will only launch on flagship devices made by the aforementioned manufacturers, but more information on that front is bound to follow shortly. This announcement marks the latest step in Google’s endeavor to bring its voice-enabled AI companion to more devices, especially those made by third-party manufacturers. The Google Assistant is already available on the Google Pixel and the Pixel XL, as well as the Google Home smart speaker and Google’s messaging app Allo. Earlier this month, the Google Assistant also debuted on wearables as an integral part of Android Wear 2.0.