It’s been rumored for some time now that Samsung would include its own virtual assistant, expected to be called Bixby, in the upcoming Galaxy S8. Now, though, it appears the company has plans to make use of the assistant in nearly every native app installed on the device.
According to a new leak, Samsung is eager to make use of its own virtual assistant, which is based on the technology it acquired with the purchase of Viv recently, by including support for it in nearly all native Samsung apps that will come pre-installed on the Galaxy S8. The company is so eager, in fact, that they are expected to redesign the UI of nearly every native app in order to make them much more user-friendly and allow for seamless integration with Bixby. The new assistant, which will be much more advanced that its predecessor S Voice, will work everywhere, not just in Samsung apps, similar to how the Google Assistant or Siri work. Additionally, the assistant is expected to be able to compete on the same scale as the latter ones, meaning users will be able to search the internet, their phone, or simply ask for suggestions or help. Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 would feature a virtual assistant, with the company stating that it will be able to offer answers and actions based on what is appearing on the display. The assistant is also expected to replace S Voice completely, so there is the possibility that Samsung could update previous flagships, specifically the Galaxy S7 line, with support for the assistant.
Back to the Galaxy S8, though, Samsung is expected to update the device’s software so that the status bar will be always visible, removing the need to swipe twice to access notifications and quick settings. All of this, along with the rumored hardware upgrades such as the larger display, a faster processor, more RAM and a newly improved rear camera sensor are sure to help the company impress consumers and regain trust. Either way, it’ll remain to be seen if Samsung’s upcoming Bixby assistant will be able to compete with Google Assistant or Siri. If they are successful, though, the likes of Apple and Google, as well as Microsoft and Amazon may start looking for ways to one-up Samsung in the virtual assistant market.