- Samsung has shown off a next-generation version of Bixby
- At the moment it is exclusive to China.
- Update makes Bixby more like Gemini or ChatGPT
Samsung is updating Bixby to better compete in the era of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Apple Intelligence: the company has just introduced a next-generation Bixby app, powered by LLM (Large Language Model) AI.
This news comes from SamMobile, which reports on the launch of the Samsung W25 and Samsung W25 Flip foldables. The new phones are similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, although they are exclusive to China.
This new and improved Bixby is also exclusive to these devices and to China, at least for now. It's unclear how long the update will take to reach top Samsung phones in the rest of the world, although Samsung will surely want to get its superior AI technology to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
Of course, Samsung has been betting on AI over the last year, although its Galaxy AI features reference Google Gemini more than Bixby, and in July we heard that Samsung's AI assistant was in line for a ChatGPT-style push.
What Next-Gen Bixby Can Do
According to Samsung, the next-generation Bixby can understand “complex user instructions” that combine multiple commands into a single sentence and will be able to extract information from what appears on the screen (such as maps or photos).
We also have a more modern interface to look forward to when this new Bixby appears outside of China, which will give Bixby a better chance to seriously compete against all the other AI assistants it faces.
In one of the demos Samsung showed off, you can ask next-gen Bixby what you should use based on the current weather. It's also able to guide you step-by-step on how to do something on your phone (like adding a watermark to an image) and will remember the context of what you've already talked about.
Text and voice input are supported, and Bixby can be invoked from any screen and from any app on a phone. Expect to see it join the other Galaxy AI features in more regions soon, possibly when One UI 7 launches early next year.