Samsung could reimagine Bixby on Galaxy S26 with a Gemini rival

Bixby, Samsung’s homespun virtual assistant, has always been overshadowed by more popular options such as Gemini, Siri, and Alexa. On other smart devices, such as Samsung TVs and talking refrigerators, Bixby is the default voice assistant. However, on Android devices under Samsung’s Galaxy range, Gemini takes precedence over Bibxy, and Samsung doesn’t oppose either.

One of the reasons for Bixby’s lack of popularity is the limited AI features compared to its rivals. However, that could be changing soon — as soon as early 2026, when Bixby might receive a deeper integration of Perplexity’s AI chatbot.  According to leaker with the handle @chunvn8888 on X, Samsung is testing Perplexity’s integration into Bixby on its smartphones and tablets. The feature, they say, is set to arrive with the launch of the Galaxy S26 series next year.

The leaker highlights that Bixby and Perplexity will share the load of responsibilities. While simpler tasks, such as creating a reminder or an alarm will be powered by Bixby’s own chops, more complex tasks, likely including searching the web for information, will be handled by Perplexity AI. In hindsight, Perplexity’s bid to offer 12 months of free subscription to Galaxy users in the US could be an attempt to warm them up to the service.

The deal is expected to power Samsung devices the same way ChatGPT powers Apple ones. That means users could be required to link their Perplexity subscriptions, and the freebies make sense. This move would also allow Samsung to cut its dependence on Google.

Notably, the collaboration has been on the cards since early this year. Back in June, Bloomberg(paywalled) reported that Samsung and Perplexity were mulling an exclusive deal to help Bixby graduate to the next level with the latter’s AI abilities.  At the time, it was noted that Perplexity would power additional experiences such as web browsing. And with Perplexity recently bringing its Comet, its web browser with agentic capabilities, to Android, we can expect the Samsung Internet app to benefit from it.

One of the biggest impacts of this integration may be Samsung starting to push Bixby as the default virtual assistant on Galaxy phones and tablets once again. This step would follow Samsung’s recent announcement to be the first brand to offer Perplexity AI on a smart TV, an announcement it made last month.

The collaboration, as per the tipster, may have also resulted from Samsung’s successful investment in Perplexity. At the time of the Bloomberg report, Perplexity was expected to receive a $500 million investment, where Samsung was expected to be the leading investor in the deal. Since then, Perplexity has received another $200 million, with its current valuation standing at $20 billion. However, since it’s privately held, details about the investment have not been made public.