At the beginning of February, we reported that all Samsung TVs would soon be losing access to the Google Assistant voice control feature; little did we know that was just the beginning of the exodus of Google apps from Samsung TVs.
Google Meet, the video conferencing app known as Google Duo until 2022, will also be removed from Samsung TVs. Originally introduced onto the Samsung Smart TV platform Tizen in October 2022, the video calling software will join the Google Assistant feature and Google Play Movies app in being removed from all Samsung display products.
This includes Samsung smart monitors; while we personally don't care about these as much as Samsung TVs, we can see this being frustrating for consumers who rely on this feature for productivity tasks.
Samsung has set a March 9th deadline for Google Meet's demise on Samsung TVs, while the support page for the app has already been taken down. However, it will continue to sell the Slim Fit Cam accessory that was used to fulfil the video calling aspect of the application, as it has integration with Samsung Health.
There are various speculations as to why Google is withdrawing support for some of its services on Samsung TVs. SamMobile (via FlatPanelsHD) speculates that it has to do with Google refocusing its efforts on Android TV and Google TV instead, although no word has been given on whether brands from other TVs that use their own operating system will lose these features yet.
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