Google Assistant will soon make its way into smart displays made by LG, Sony, JBl and others

Google said at CES 2018 that it will be bringing its AI voice assistant to tablet-like smart-speakers, or smart-displays, which would be designed by LG, Sony, Bang & Olufsen, JBL, Lenovo and more. The Mountain View-based search engine giant plans to step up its game in the smart-speaker market and give Amazon a run for its money.

Lenovo Smart display. Lenovo

These tablet-like smart speakers, which are to be powered by the Google voice assistant, will be available for sale starting this summer. The devices will be competing with the Amazon Echo Show, which was unveiled in June of 2017, and its smaller version Echo Spot, both of which have a display.

As of right now, Amazon dominates the smart speaker market with its range of Echo devices. Other AI assistants like Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana don't have a smart-speaker interface currently, although Apple is planning to release the HomePod very soon.

In the above video, we can clearly see that this smart-display retains many of the traditional Google Assistant features such as the ability to give directions, set reminders, make calls or show photos. The Lenovo smart-display comes with an 8-inch screen for $200 or a 10-inch screen for $250, and will go on sale starting this summer. Other manufacturers are also set to follow suit.