Samsung TVs are getting Google Assistant compatibility this year

NelsonG · January 7, 2019

Google continued its unstoppable takeover of CES 2019 by announcing that Samsung TVs will soon offer Assistant compatibility. The feature, which is arriving later this year, will give users the ability to adjust volume, change channels and switch image input.

Compatibility requires a separate piece of Google Assistant hardware — like a Home, Home Hub or third-party smart display or speaker. No surprise the announcement doesn’t include native Assistant support, but it’s still a nice win for Google.

Samsung, for its part, still has a lot of its eggs in the old Bixby basket. For all of the smart assistant’s flaws, it has one key thing that much of the competition doesn’t: native hardware support on a number of appliances and TVs. As such, Samsung’s not really really in a hurry to go all in on of Google Assistant or Alexa.

Bixby, of course, started life as a mobile offering, akin to Apple’s Siri play. Though the assistant has quickly branched out into a wide range of different products, including Samsung refrigerators. The company also recently announced a forthcoming premium smart speaker, the Galaxy Home, with a rumored budget version also arriving soon.