The familiar microphone icon in Google’s search bar might soon be a thing of the past, according to some recent changes spotted by 9 to 5 Google. On some phones, Google’s old-school “Voice Search,” with the prompt “Say ‘Hey Google,'” has been replaced by the four-dot Assistant logo and the term “Ask your Assistant.” As a reminder, that’s just like the one at the bottom of Google’s Pixel launcher. It still opens the same interface as before, but the search is now performed by Assistant and displays the results in a slide-up card.

Google’s Voice Search has been around in one form or another for many years, and works in more languages than Assistant. However, Google clearly wants users to embrace Assistant instead so that they have a similar experience across multiple devices — whether they be smart speakers or smartphones. The change is only appearing on some phones, but could be coming in a phased rollout to others later on. Engadget has reached out to Google for confirmation.

Source: engadget.com