Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Could Feature Perplexity AI Alongside Bixby For More Complex Tasks, Tipster Claims

Samsung appears to be preparing a major shift in its AI strategy as it looks to strengthen Bixby across its ecosystem. The company has steadily expanded its focus on artificial intelligence through Galaxy AI, smart home products and recent partnerships. New leaks suggest the company could bring a significant upgrade that could reshape how Bixby works on future Galaxy devices. With growing competition from Google's Gemini, the South Korean tech giant may bring more advanced intelligence to its own assistant. 

Samsung Galaxy S26 Could Offer a Bixby Assistant Powered by Perplexity AI

According to an X post by tipster @chunvn8888, the company is testing a deeper integration of Perplexity AI, where Bixby would handle simple system tasks while Perplexity processes more complex or reasoning-heavy requests. Rival Apple has also taken a similar approach with its smartphones, offloading more difficult tasks to ChatGPT.

This approach is expected to give Bixby the intelligence boost it has lacked compared to Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. The upgraded assistant is expected to launch with the Galaxy S26 series in early 2026.

The leak also claims Samsung chose Perplexity because of its investment in the company and its growing presence among Galaxy users. Perplexity recently offered a free 12-month subscription to US Galaxy owners, which may help familiarise customers ahead of deeper integration.

Earlier reports from Bloomberg also suggested the two companies were exploring an exclusive partnership to give Bixby stronger web-enabled capabilities.

Perplexity's recent launch of its Comet AI browser for Android further points to potential links with Samsung Internet and other native Galaxy apps. Meanwhile, Bixby has remained part of Samsung's ecosystem for years but has struggled to keep up with competing assistants. Despite incremental improvements, it has often been overshadowed by Google's solutions on Galaxy devices.

If the new version of Bixby arrives alongside One UI 8.5, it may also roll out to existing Galaxy phones and tablets. Samsung has already confirmed Perplexity support on its smart TVs, suggesting a broader AI push across its product lineup. While still unconfirmed, multiple leaks point to the Galaxy S26 generation as the moment Bixby becomes significantly more capable.