Google Assistant
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
Google has announced that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on most Android phones later in 2025. The switch will impact everything that runs Google Assistant—phones, tablets, cars, headphones, and even watches.
Google says that the "classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices" later this year. Users will receive a specific date for the change and see upgrade prompts in the coming months. There will be exceptions for phones running Android 9 or earlier with less than 2GB RAM, which will keep the existing Assistant experience.
Google is hoping to create an AI-powered assistant that is personal, aware of the user's context, and able to interact with existing apps and services.
A new experience powered by Gemini is also coming to speakers, displays, and TVs, with more details to be revealed in the coming months, as revealed by 9to5Google.
Google reports that millions of users have already switched to Gemini. The company sees this change as the start of a new chapter in AI tech, building on the progress Google Assistant made with voice recognition and natural language processing back in 2016.