Google Home and Nest speakers and displays as we know them may be doomed if the company's recent Google Assistant deprecations are any indication. Google Assistant is rapidly losing features as Google puts more time and effort into Gemini, its AI-based chatbot and assistant. Just this week, Google announced plans to remove seven more features from Google Assistant in the future, following up the 18 features that were lost in early 2024.
As such, it's not an understatement to call the Google Assistant a shell of its former self. That isn't as much of an issue on smartphones and tablets, as Gemini serves as a better virtual assistant in many cases. When Gemini falls short, Android phones and tablets can take advantage of Assistant extensions to fill the gap. In fact, rumors point to Gemini replacing the Google Assistant on smartwatches via a future Wear OS update, too.
