By @CNET
Publication Date: 2026-02-26 06:15:00
There were plenty of references to AI at today’s Galaxy Unpacked event. But Samsung isn’t alone; nearly every major smartphone launch in recent years has included new AI features or partnerships with AI companies.
Samsung launched its latest iteration of Galaxy AI, debuting it alongside Galaxy S26 phones. This follows weekend news that the company plans to integrate Perplexity’s AI agent — and even support a “Hey Plex” wake word — on its new phones. But the partnership appears to go beyond simply giving Samsung users another AI option.
Since late 2023, phone-makers have been leapfrogging one another to add generative AI features and integrate AI agents. Nearly every new Android phone supports Google’s Gemini assistant. Apple’s iPhones integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into the phone’s Visual Intelligence feature and its Siri overhaul will incorporate Google’s Gemini AI models.
While Perplexity has partnered with phone-makers such as Motorola to preload its app — and has been integrated into devices for Deutsche Telekom — having its AI and models built directly into phones from the world’s largest manufacturer puts the company on a much bigger stage. It marks a shift toward AI agents being just another tool people choose to use, much like a phone app.
“The first step toward an agentic mobile ecosystem is the user getting to choose whatever agent they…
