It’s 2025, and Google’s screen-based Nest Hub Devices Still Run off 2016 Google Assistant. Seriously?

TLDR: When can users of Google ‘s there versions of its Nest Hub devices expect integration of Gemini?

It’s hard not to notice the gap.

Pixel phones have had Gemini for a while now — powerful, multimodal, context-aware AI. If I recall correctly, it first arrived on Pixel devices in late 2023.

But over in smart display land? We’re still using Google Assistant — the same version from 2016 (or what feels like the same version). I’ve been using Google Assistant since I bought the first-gen Google Nest Hub in 2018, and honestly, the experience hasn’t meaningfully changed (unless I am seriously misremembering extreme advances in Google Assistant’s capabilities, but I don’t think that’s the case, I think it’s been pretty stagnant).

Let’s lay it out:

• The original Nest Hub came out in 2018.

• The Nest Hub Max followed in 2019 with upgraded hardware.

• The 2nd gen Nest Hub launched in 2021.

Despite that, none of these devices have received Gemini.

This isn’t a hardware limitation — Gemini was pushed to Pixel 6 and 7 series devices, which have comparable or lesser specs. So why is the Android ecosystem so fragmented?

It’s wild to think that in 2025, I am still issuing voice commands to a 9-year-old “assistant” that never developed mentally into even a teenager, on products that Google still sells.

There’s no upgrade path. No formal Gemini roadmap for smart displays. Just silence — or, more recently, vague promises to expand Gemini “across devices,” with no specific mention of the Nest Hub line.

For a company that claims it wants AI “everywhere,” this kind of internal inconsistency is getting harder to defend.TLDR: When can users of Google ‘s there versions of its Nest Hub devices expect integration of Gemini?

It’s hard not to notice the gap.

Pixel phones have had Gemini for a while now — powerful, multimodal, context-aware AI. If I recall correctly, it first arrived on Pixel devices in late 2023.

But over in smart display land? We’re still using Google Assistant — the same version from 2016 (or what feels like the same version). I’ve been using Google Assistant since I bought the first-gen Google Nest Hub in 2018, and honestly, the experience hasn’t meaningfully changed (unless I am seriously misremembering extreme advances in Google Assistant’s capabilities, but I don’t think that’s the case, I think it’s been pretty stagnant).

Let’s lay it out:

• The original Nest Hub came out in 2018.

• The Nest Hub Max followed in 2019 with upgraded hardware.

• The 2nd gen Nest Hub launched in 2021.

Despite that, none of these devices have received Gemini.

I have both the first and second generation devices, and had thought Gemini would have been pushed easily into at least the second generation version months ago by now.

This isn’t a hardware limitation — Gemini was pushed to Pixel 6 and 7 series devices, which have comparable or lesser specs. So why is the Android ecosystem so fragmented?

It’s wild to think that in 2025, I am still issuing voice commands to a 9-year-old “assistant” that never developed mentally into even a teenager, on products that Google still sells.

There’s no upgrade path. No formal Gemini roadmap for smart displays. Just silence — or, more recently, vague promises to expand Gemini “across devices,” with no specific mention of the Nest Hub line.

For a company that claims it wants AI “everywhere,” this kind of internal inconsistency is getting harder to defend.