Google is softening its timeline for transitioning mobile users from Assistant to Gemini, a slower and more incremental rollout that now extends into 2026. The company is no longer sticking to a strict cutoff of late next year, and it has fallen short of laying out a new final date, instead announcing a phased transition that would be based around device readiness and feature parity.
Why Google Is Gradually Making The Switch
Changing the default voice experience on billions of phones is a high-stakes operation. Gemini might outmatch Assistant on creativity and reasoning, but day-of reliability — speedy timers, offline requests and complicated home routines — still needs to feel instantaneous and predictable. By extending the timeline, Google is balancing stability, language availability and regionalized support against speed.
There’s also a technical dimension. Gemini is available in a range of sizes from on-device for high-end phones to cloud models that work on a variety of devices. Optimizing for latency, battery impact, and server capacity at planetary scale is a process that requires iterative effort. Market analysts have long identified inference cost and latency as a source of friction for generative AI assistants, particularly in mobile applications.
What Changes For Users Now During Google’s Transition
Nothing goes wrong, and there are no abrupt transitions for most Android users. If your phone reaches Google’s hardware and software standards, you’ll still receive reminders to try Gemini and could potentially make it the default assistant. If you want to opt for Assistant, it’s still there — for the moment. The mobile migration will just keep on going into 2026 for Google, not come to a screeching halt at some arbitrary checkpoint.
The looser deadline applies only to mobile devices: phones, Wear OS watches and compatible earbuds. A separate effort by Google to introduce Gemini experiences into the smart home is proceeding independently, and does not contribute to this slowdown in pace.
The Most Likely Devices To Go First In The Rollout
Flagship and newer upper-midrange phones are best positioned to lead the migration, with newer chipsets, generous memory and up-to-date Android builds. That’s where on-device Gemini features deliver lower latency and richer multimodal responses. Older or lower-spec devices could stay on Assistant longer, with the somewhat cloud-backed Gemini options being rolled out more slowly — or some not at all if they do not meet performance goals.
It’s helpful to keep the scale in mind: Google has reported an active Android base north of 3 billion devices in recent years. The deployment of a new default assistant across that footprint inevitably happens in waves and is influenced by local, carrier and OEM quirks.
Feature Parity Continues To Be The Hurdle
These are Assistant’s deeply integrated features that the power users rely upon — home control, multi-step routines, driving commands, reminders and just-works activation without hands. Gemini’s advantages are a different set: richer reasoning, better understanding of context, and multiple types of input. The question isn’t whether Gemini is smarter in a vacuum, but whether it can replicate and measure up to Assistant’s muscle memory across tasks throughout the day without adding friction.
Google has been closing gaps, but there are still some differences in workflow depending on region, language and app capability. Enterprises will also be looking for parity with Assistant’s management functions in Google Workspace: BYOD policies are usually predicated on some control of voice and data.
The Technical Tradeoffs In The Background
On-device models offer all capable phones both faster response times and improved privacy, while cloud models offer the most advanced inferencing at the cost of a constant connection and potential lag. “We absolutely need to ensure that the right model gets run at the right time, understand how caching works, and address questions about how different wake words work across your phone, watch and earbuds,” he said. A looser timeline also leaves Google with space to tune those systems without sacrificing the fundamental “voice does what I expect” experience.
What Users Need To Do As Gemini Rolls Out
See if Gemini is available as a default in Assistant settings on your device, and test it with things you usually do with your Assistant — setting timers, reading messages and directions, or controlling your home.
Ensure your Google app and Play Services are up to date for the latest features. If you rely on some obscure niche feature of Assistant or a routine, make sure it works as expected before changing your default.
The upshot: Google is de-risking a huge lurch by trading a hard deadline for an increasingly steep ramp. Look for a measured, region-by-region migration; clearer guidance on older hardware; and more progress on feature parity as the company takes the transition into 2026.
