Google made a big deal out of its new AI voice assistant, Google Assistant, when it launched its Pixel and Pixel XL phones last year, but until now, only those two handsets have come with the feature.
According to a new report from Business Korea, however, that’s about to change. The report claims LG’s upcoming flagship, the LG G6, will come packing Google’s AI assistant.
It’s far from verified at this point, but the report claims it’s all part of LG’s attempts to cooperate with outside companies including Google and Amazon to strengthen its own products.
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“Industry sources” have suggested the Google Assistant will also appear in other LG products, including two forthcoming LG smartwatches.
Two LG watches were spotted going through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a couple of weeks ago, complete with the upcoming Android Wear 2.0 OS.
But Google is said to be working on its own pair of smartwatches, which the new report claims are being produced by LG and will also come with the Google Assistant built-in.
LG is said to have abandoned the modular design of the LG G5 for its next flagship
Whether the assistant will also make it onto LG’s own smartwatches (if they are indeed separate devices) remains to be seen, but if the report is accurate in terms of the company’s partnership with Google, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it.
It’s also claimed that LG has “left open the possibility of cooperation with Amazon”, though just how this cooperation will work isn’t clear.
Alexa, Amazon’s own virtual assistant, features on the Amazon Echo, and could well be integrated with LG’s own IoT devices in the future – though nothing is concrete at this point.
The LG G6 is expected to launch at MWC 2017, which gets underway on February 26, so stay tuned for the latest as the big event draws near.
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Let us know what you think of the report in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
