Samsung's Bixby Reboot: AI Assistant Comeback or Futile Effort?
Paul Riverbank, 1/10/2025Samsung's revival of Bixby for the Galaxy S25 promises enhanced AI capabilities, but faces skepticism over its usefulness and potential redundancy with existing assistants like Google Assistant.
-- Samsung's impending revival of its Bixby virtual assistant for the Galaxy S25 series has sparked mixed reactions. "Bixby has been an annoyance for years but Samsung can't seem to let it go," remarked a tech pundit. The teaser for Samsung Unpacked 2025, where the S25 will be unveiled, promises "the next evolution of Galaxy AI" that will be "more natural and intuitive" -- a clear nod to Bixby's resurgence.
While Samsung's partnership with Google has yielded features like Circle to Search, the company seems determined to forge its own AI path. "Samsung says the new Bixby can 'deeply perceive' what a user wants, as well as maintain a sharp understanding through multi-step instructions," the report notes. This echoes capabilities of ChatGPT and Google's own Gemini assistant.
The revamped Bixby will also boast enhanced text and video integration, along with document editing and generation -- mirroring OnePlus' recent offering with the OnePlus 13. However, skepticism lingers: "I don't know a single person who enjoyed using Bixby when Samsung pushed it as the default assistant on its devices, and I can't see generative AI changing people's minds and making them want to use it more."
Yet Samsung's unique selling point may lie in its offline AI processing capabilities. "Samsung is one of the few companies that offers users the option to only process AI-related tasks on-device, even if that means some features are slower or unavailable for use." This prioritizes local computing and privacy over cloud-based processing -- a potential advantage in the AI race.
The company must tread carefully, though, as "adding another annoying virtual assistant to a phone that's already chock full of confusing and sometimes redundant features is a recipe for frustration." The question remains: Is Samsung listening to users or merely investors? As one observer quipped, "People don't want two gallery apps. They don't want two assistant apps. And they definitely don't want more AI to raise the price of their phones for the third year in a row."
