Samsung just launched its biggest Bixby update in years | Digital Trends

For the last several years, Samsung’s Bixby assistant has felt like an afterthought. Especially in 2024, as Google is launching Gemini and Apple is radically improving Siri, Bixby has been sitting in the corner without any new features to compete.

However, it looks like that’s finally changing. During a launch event in China for the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip, Samsung also announced its “next-generation Bixby.” This new generation of Bixby is promising a healthy dose of new AI features, many of which should put it on a much more level playing field with Gemini and Siri.

For starters, the new Bixby should be much better at understanding complex questions and will be able to “process multitasking instructions contained in a single sentence.” Siri made recent advancements at being able to understand questions/commands when spoken to in a more natural manner, and it sounds like Bixby is getting similar treatment.

The new Bixby will also be able to see what’s on your phone/tablet screen and use that to better assist its answers. For example, you could be looking at or texting about a restaurant and tell Bixby to “navigate here” to get turn-by-turn directions to that location. Bixby is also seemingly getting a new website translation tool, plus the ability to generate documents, slideshows, and spreadsheets after being given a prompt.

Bixby appears to also be getting a new UI that takes over the entire screen. It’s unclear if it’ll copy the glowing screen effect introduced with the new Siri, but it will have a fresh coat of paint compared to the Bixby we have today.

All of this sounds promising, but it does come with a fairly big catch. Samsung hasn’t announced when its next-generation Bixby will launch outside of the China-exclusive Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip smartphones.

It’s reasonable to suspect we’ll see the new Bixby come to the U.S. alongside the Samsung Galaxy S25 series in early 2025, though that’s pure speculation. It’s also entirely possible this new Bixby won’t be ready for a wider release until the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 later in 2025.

Whenever the new Bixby is ready for prime time, it’ll be a hotly anticipated release. Samsung’s been no stranger to the AI world this year, going all-in with its Galaxy AI suite, and Bixby has been strangely absent from the whole thing. Whether or not these upgrades are enough to seriously challenge Siri and Gemini remains to be seen, but Samsung’s at least on the right track here.