By Sanuj Bhatia
Publication Date: 2025-12-29 17:11:00
What you need to know
- Samsung is testing Perplexity-powered responses inside Bixby ahead of the Galaxy S26 launch, signaling a major AI upgrade.
- The integration lets Bixby handle basic tasks while Perplexity answers complex, web-backed questions with sources.
- Early signs of the feature have appeared in the One UI 8.5 beta, despite being planned for Galaxy S26.
Samsung appears to be laying the groundwork for a major Perplexity-powered Bixby upgrade ahead of Galaxy S26 series launch next year.
Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite already offers some of the most capable AI features among all Android smartphones, but Bixby has consistently lagged behind competitors. At the moment, Samsung largely relies on Google Gemini for deeper and complex queries. The company’s own Bixby assistant, on the other hand, are limited to basic tasks and commands.
For some time now, Samsung has been rumored to be working with Perplexity to give Bixby a much-needed AI upgrade. With this integration, Bixby would continue managing basic system actions like toggling settings or opening apps, while Perplexity would step in to answer more complex, web-backed queries complete with citations, similar to how Apple tapped OpenAI‘s ChatGPT to handle advanced requests in iOS 26.
Samsung looks to fix Bixby’s biggest weakness
The feature was initially rumored to debut alongside the Galaxy S26 series, but signs of it have already appeared in the latest One UI 8.5 beta. A…
