Samsung officially reveals a new Bixby: smarter, faster, but is it better than Gemini?

Samsung has just announced the new Bixby in One UI 8.5 beta. The redesigned voice assistant is now getting transformed into a fully-working conversational device agent. 

Intuitiveness redesigned

After years of trailing behind the competition, Samsung’s in-house voice assistant is finally catching up with modern artificial intelligence (AI) standards. AI has been a major focus for Samsung ever since the first AI-enhanced flagships were launched back in 2024. The Bixby upgrade seems a logical continuation of efforts to keep AI at the forefront of device usability. Chief Operating Officer Won-Joon Choi commented:



In essence, users can now communicate freely using their own words instead of concrete setting names to adjust device settings quickly and more intuitively. For instance, you can tell Bixby that you don’t want your phone to change display brightness settings all the time; Bixby understands and immediately turns off the Auto Brightness feature, saving you both time and effort.



For newcomers, the new Bixby features effectively eliminate the learning curve. Samsung menus can be overwhelming for first-time users. Now, instead of hunting for the right setting hours, you can simply ask Bixby why your phone keeps waking up in your pocket. It analyzes the situation and immediately shows relevant settings for you to review.

Web intelligence, now on Bixby

The upgraded Bixby will now also support real-time web search. Using Perplexity, the assistant delivers up-to-date information right on its own interface.



While this may not sound ground-breaking, the highlight is that you won’t be redirected to a browser or an app to get the answer you need. No more digging through links, no more time spent than necessary.

The new Bixby will initially be available in One UI 8.5 in select markets, with a broader expansion to follow. In any case, we can expect it to be a major highlight of the Galaxy S26 announcement.

A sign of a Google departure?

While redesigning its in-house voice assistant to make settings changes more intuitive is completely logical, using Perplexity over Gemini for web search doesn’t quite sit right with me. Sure, no user wants to sift through links and redirections when all they need is a simple holiday getaway idea.

And still, given that Samsung has been relying on Google AI for some time, this strategic shift looks very much intentional. By using a direct rival like Perplexity, Samsung could be sending out a message: no more 100% Google dependence.