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Assistant with Bard might only come to Tensor-toting Pixels, S24 at first
- Google Assistant with Bard could come to Tensor-powered Pixels and the Galaxy S24 first.
- The overhauled Assistant will reportedly come to the Galaxy S23 series too.
Google used its Pixel 8 series launch event to reveal a version of Assistant powered by Bard. The company announced that it would be testing the superpowered Assistant soon, and it looks like the list of supported devices is very short.
9to5Google dug into a beta version of the Google app (version 14.41), discovering hints that the Google Pixel 8 series and upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 series will be the first devices to support Assistant with Bard.
However, the outlet also discovered references to pending support for older Tensor-powered Pixel phones (Pixel 6 and newer) as well as the Samsung Galaxy S23 series.
It’s unclear why Google is specifically targeting these recent devices, although we can speculate that the company is harnessing the more powerful AI silicon for Assistant with Bard. Google already uses its Tensor chips for offline voice typing so it’s theoretically possible it’s taking a similar approach in the Bard-enabled Assistant before sending the query to the cloud.
Google says Assistant with Bard will roll out to testers “soon” with a wider release in the coming months. So we’ll likely have more clarity on supported devices once it’s in testing. Either way, it’s clear that generative AI will be a big deal on smartphones in 2024.