Google stops supporting smart screens from Lenovo, JBL and LG

Google is ending support for several smart display devices such as those from Lenovo, LG and JBL. This has to do with the fact that the company is reducing support for Android Things, the OS that was once intended for IoT devices.

Google is stopping updates for the Lenovo Smart Displays of 7, 8 and 10 inches, the JBL Link View and the LG Xboom AI ThinQ WK9. These are three of the most popular smart displays, a type of tablet that could be used for video calling, for example. Google writes in an update on a support page that it will immediately stop releasing software updates for those devices. These can still be used, but Google warns that ‘the quality of video calls and meetings may deteriorate’. The devices are also likely to no longer be safe to use, because if vulnerabilities are found, they will no longer be repaired.

The smart displays run on Google’s operating system for Internet of Things devices, Android Things. It started in 2015 under the name Brillo and was intended to power IoT, but the OS never became popular. Google partially stopped the platform in 2020, but it concerned the console where users created projects themselves. Since 2019, Google has been focusing the OS on smart speakers, of which there were still a number in circulation.

Several other smart screens continue to work. Devices like the Lenovo Smart Clock run on other operating systems. Google also has its own Nest Hub.