Summary
- Samsung is set to launch the Galaxy S25 series next month with the upgraded Bixby voice assistant.
- This AI voice assistant is currently exclusive to the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip in China, but it will soon be available across most regions where the Galaxy S25 will be sold.
- The new Bixby assistant features a Large Language Model (LLM) to understand natural language better and solve complex queries.
The countdown has begun for Samsung’s next major smartphone launch as the company prepares to unleash three new Galaxy S25 smartphones next month. Much like in the years past, we already have a decent idea about the lineup’s hardware attributes, thanks to an endless cycle of pre-launch leaks. We’re now getting some info on the software side of things, specifically about Samsung’s powerful new Bixby voice assistant.
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For some context, Samsung’s upgraded Bixby assistant is an AI experience powered by a custom Large Language Model (LLM) to deliver AI experiences similar to Google Gemini or ChatGPT by OpenAI. However, this brand-new AI assistant is currently exclusive to the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip in China.
However, as per an ETNews report (in Korean), this exclusivity could be broken by the Galaxy S25 when it lands next month. This should mean that almost every region in the world could get access to the new and improved Bixby voice assistant roughly over a month from now (via Android Authority).
The LLM will incorporate elements of the Samsung Gauss generative AI model and Google Gemini, according to ETNews. Meanwhile, the Chinese version of the upgraded Bixby assistant utilizes Gauss and a China-based LLM. What makes the new and improved Bixby assistant better is its ability to understand natural language better.
Get more done with your Galaxy S25
This generative AI model will be able to perform tasks like creating PDFs and documents or answering some of the more complex queries. Bixby will also be able to educate you on your smartphone’s built-in features. This revamped AI experience is expected to be a part of One UI 7, Samsung’s Android 15-based update, which has only recently entered the beta stage. The stable version of One UI 7 could arrive sometime after the Galaxy S25’s launch next month.
Samsung has evidently spent a bit of time fine-tuning its generative AI models, with Bixby also getting a visual refresh. The company reportedly intended to bundle the new Bixby with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 in July, but “scheduling issues” reportedly led to that being pushed back. But with Samsung already making it available in China last month, the stage is set for the rest of the world to try out the revamped Bixby experience.
The new Bixby is not dissimilar to Google Gemini in terms of capabilities. However, the company will hope that Galaxy S25 users will prefer the native solution over Gemini, though there’s always the option to use Google’s voice assistant.