Google is once again slowing its plan to swap out Google Assistant for Gemini on its own hardware, stretching a transition that was supposed to wrap up this year into a much longer, more cautious rollout. The company is now signaling that Assistant will remain a core part of Android and other Google devices into 2026, even as it keeps pitching Gemini as the future of its AI experience.
For users, that means the familiar voice helper is not disappearing anytime soon, but it also means more uncertainty about when Gemini will feel like a complete, reliable replacement rather than an optional experiment. I see this delay as less a simple schedule slip and more a sign of how hard it is to rebuild a decade of Assistant features on top of a new generative AI stack without breaking the habits of hundreds of millions of people.
From bold 2025 promise to a 2026 reality check
When Google first laid out its Gemini ambitions, the company framed the shift as a relatively quick handoff from Assistant to a more capable AI brain. In March, In March 2025, Google publicly said it planned to replace the Assistant with Gemini by the end of the year, promising that Gemini would eventually take over core assistant duties on Android phones and other devices. That pledge set clear expectations: Assistant was on borrowed time, and Gemini was supposed to be ready for prime time within months, not years.
Now, the company has quietly but decisively walked that back, telling users that the full handover will not happen until 2026 and that the Assistant will keep running in parallel for longer than expected. Reporting on the updated roadmap notes that Back when that original promise was made, Google was still targeting the end of 2025, but the company is now explicitly positioning Gemini as a 2026 replacement for Google Assistant on Android. The shift from a hard deadline to a softer, later window is the clearest sign yet that the Gemini transition is proving more complex than Google anticipated.
Google’s vague explanation and what it signals
What stands out most in Google’s latest messaging is how little concrete explanation it is offering for the delay. The company has acknowledged that the transition is being pushed into next year, but it has not given users a specific new date or a detailed technical reason for the change. One report notes that the tech giant did not share a precise timeline and, instead of spelling out a cause, simply confirmed that the Assistant and Gemini will remain on a separate track for now, leaving users to infer the rest from the company’s actions rather than its words, as described in an update on Dec 19.
In my view, that vagueness is itself revealing. When a company like Google is confident in a product’s readiness, it tends to trumpet milestones and dates; when it is still wrestling with reliability, compatibility, or regulatory questions, it falls back on language about “adjusting timelines” and “smoother experiences.” That is exactly the tone here, with Google saying it will adjust its Gemini rollout and keep both AI helpers active, a stance captured in coverage that opens with the line “Believe it or not, Google still has two AI helpers rolling around,” and explains that Believe Google is not quite ready to let go of the Assistant.
Assistant gets a stay of execution on Android
The most immediate impact of the delay is on Android phones, where Gemini was supposed to become the default assistant experience by the end of this year. Google had wanted to remove Assistant from most Android phones and replace it with Gemini, but that plan has now been softened, with the company confirming that the Assistant will stick around for some Android users into 2026. Reporting on the updated schedule notes that Google originally aimed to complete the removal by the end of 2025, but the new guidance makes clear that the Assistant is not being switched off on that timeline.
Instead, Gemini will take longer to reach all Android devices, and only after that rollout is complete will Google Assistant stop working on those phones. One detailed breakdown explains that Gemini will take longer to reach all Android devices and that, after that, Google Assistant will stop working, with no specific deadline attached. That sequencing matters: it means users will not be forced into Gemini until it is actually available on their hardware, and it gives Google more time to iron out bugs and feature gaps before it pulls the plug on the older assistant.
A gradual, not sudden, transition across devices
Even before this latest delay, Google had been signaling that the Gemini shift would be a slow, staged process rather than a single overnight change. The company has repeatedly emphasized that any transition is expected to happen gradually rather than all at once, a point that has been highlighted in coverage explaining that Any move away from Assistant will roll out over time and will also affect smart speakers and displays. That framing is now even more important, because the delay effectively stretches the “gradual” period into at least another full year.
On phones, that means users will see Gemini appear first as an optional upgrade or a separate app, while the classic Assistant continues to handle alarms, timers, and voice commands that are deeply integrated into Android. On smart speakers and displays, the stakes are arguably higher, because those devices are built around voice control and have fewer alternative interfaces. The gradual approach gives Google room to test Gemini’s conversational abilities and home control features in the real world before it risks breaking routines like “Hey Google, turn off the lights” for millions of households, a concern that is implicit in the coverage of how the delay affects smart speakers and displays in the same report that stressed the transition would be gradual rather than all at once.
Why Gemini is not ready to fully replace Assistant
Underneath the scheduling drama is a more fundamental question: why is Gemini, which Google pitches as a cutting edge generative AI system, not yet ready to fully stand in for the Assistant? One clue comes from the way the company is still describing the relationship between the two products. In several briefings, Google has framed Gemini as a new AI layer that will eventually power assistant-like experiences, but it has also acknowledged that the Assistant remains better suited for some device-level tasks and integrations. A detailed report on the updated timeline notes that Google is extending the switch from Google Assistant to Gemini on Android devices into 2026, explicitly to aim for a smoother user experience as it rolls out the Gemini platform across mobile devices.
That focus on smoothness suggests that Gemini still has rough edges when it comes to latency, reliability, or compatibility with the sprawling ecosystem of Android apps and services that currently hook into Google Assistant. At the same time, the company is trying to keep momentum behind its new AI brand, which is why it continues to talk about Gemini as the future even as it gives the Assistant more time. One analysis framed this as Google Assistant getting a tiny lifeline as the full switch to Gemini gets pushed to 2026, describing how Google Assistant is effectively being kept alive so users do not have to live through Gemini’s growing pains on their primary devices.
Inside Google’s mysterious delay
Externally, the delay looks abrupt, but internally it likely reflects months of data about how real users are responding to Gemini. Publicly, Google has not tied the change to any single bug or incident, which is why some coverage has described the move as a mysterious postponement of Gemini replacing Google Assistant on its devices. One report even framed the story under the line Google Mysteriously Delays Gemini Replacing Google Assistant On Its Devices, underscoring how little official detail the company has offered about what, exactly, went wrong with the original schedule.
What we do know is that Google is still trying to present Gemini as its flagship AI product for what it calls the generative AI computing era, even as it slows the pace of replacing the Assistant. Another report on the same theme notes that Google states in an update that it is delaying its original plans to sunset the Assistant across devices, explaining that What users can expect now is a longer period where both Assistant and Gemini coexist. From my perspective, that coexistence is less a sign of indecision and more a hedge: Google wants Gemini to learn from real usage while the more battle tested Assistant continues to handle the most sensitive, time critical tasks.
How users can navigate the Gemini–Assistant split
For everyday users, the practical question is not why Google delayed the switch, but how to live with two overlapping assistants on the same phone. On many recent Android devices, Gemini is already available as a separate app or as an opt in upgrade, while the classic Assistant remains wired into the home button, power button, or “Hey Google” hotword. That dual setup can be confusing, which is why tutorials have emerged showing people how to move between the two. One walkthrough titled “How To Switch From Gemini To Google Assistant On Android” walks through the process of going into settings and choosing the preferred assistant, explaining that users can still pick Google Assistant as their default if they are not ready to commit to Gemini.
I see that flexibility as one of the few clear upsides of the delay. Instead of being forced into Gemini overnight, users can experiment with its generative features for tasks like drafting messages or summarizing web pages, then fall back to the Assistant for things like controlling a Nest thermostat or sending a quick WhatsApp voice command. Over time, as Gemini gains more of those device level hooks, the balance will likely shift, but for now the coexistence gives users a safety net and gives Google a way to gather feedback without burning the trust it has built up around the Assistant over the past decade.
What the delay reveals about Google’s AI strategy
Stepping back, the drawn out Gemini rollout tells us as much about Google’s internal priorities as it does about the state of its technology. On one hand, the company is under intense pressure to show progress in generative AI, both from rivals and from investors who see Gemini as a key part of Google’s future. On the other hand, it cannot afford a high profile failure on the devices where people rely on Google Assistant for alarms, navigation, and smart home control. That tension is visible in the way Google keeps talking up Gemini’s potential while quietly extending the Assistant’s lifespan, a dynamic captured in coverage that notes Google is not quite ready to replace Assistant with Gemini on Android devices just yet.
Internally, that likely means teams are racing to close feature gaps, improve Gemini’s understanding of context, and address privacy questions about how user interactions are used for AI training. Externally, it means Google has to manage expectations, which is why some coverage has framed the story as Google deciding that Google Assistant can stick around a bit longer and pushing the Gemini switch to 2026. One analysis even uses the phrase Google Decides That Google Assistant Can Stick Around a Bit Longer, capturing the sense that the Assistant has won an unexpected reprieve. From my vantage point, that reprieve is less about nostalgia and more about risk management: Google is choosing to protect its core user experience while it figures out how to make Gemini live up to its own hype.
The road to 2026 and what to watch next
Looking ahead, the key milestones to watch are not just calendar dates, but concrete changes in how Gemini behaves on real devices. Google has said that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on Android in 2026, and that the company is extending the switch to aim for a smoother rollout across mobile devices, as detailed in reports that spell out how Gemini will eventually become the primary assistant. The real test will be whether, by the time that handover happens, Gemini can match or exceed the Assistant on the everyday tasks that matter most to users, from setting a 6:30 a.m. alarm to starting navigation to a saved work address.
Until then, I expect Google to keep iterating in public, adding Gemini features in waves while quietly trimming some of the Assistant’s more obscure capabilities. One report on the delay notes that Google states in an update that it is delaying its original plans to sunset the Assistant, explaining that Google will let the Assistant linger for a while longer. Another analysis emphasizes that the Assistant lives and that Google will adjust its timeline for the Gemini transition, reinforcing the idea that the company is feeling its way forward rather than following a rigid script. For users, the best approach is to treat Gemini as a promising but still evolving upgrade, and to keep an eye on how often they find themselves switching back to the Assistant when something really needs to work the first time.
More from MorningOverview