Galaxy S26 could mark Bixby’s comeback — with Perplexity doing the heavy lifting

What you need to know

• Samsung is reportedly gearing up to give Bixby a long-overdue overhaul, turning it from a basic command bot into a true conversational assistant.
• The Galaxy S26 is rumored to ship with a Perplexity-powered Bixby, shifting Samsung away from heavy reliance on Google’s Gemini.
• Perplexity’s tech could enable smarter search, richer answers, and complex reasoning, while Bixby keeps its native system-level control advantages.

Bixby has long been overshadowed by Google Assistant and Alexa. While Samsung’s longtime digital companion has often felt like little more than a button you accidentally pressed, that narrative is about to get a necessary rewrite.

Samsung is reportedly preparing a significant AI update for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series that would transform Bixby from a basic command-based assistant into a more advanced conversational tool. According to a post on X by reliable tipster @chunvn8888, Samsung plans a major Bixby reboot powered by Perplexity AI, instead of relying solely on Google’s Gemini.

For a company that has spent years presenting Bixby as a secondary, less-prominent assistant, this is a notable shift. Early reports suggest Samsung wants the Galaxy S26 to debut with a more capable, more conversational, and far more useful version of its in-house assistant, giving the phone its own AI identity rather than relying entirely on Google. Perplexity AI was a top candidate, with the integration reportedly covering Perplexity’s app, search features in Samsung's browser, and enhanced Bixby capabilities.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series introduced Galaxy AI, which was mostly driven by Google’s solution under the hood. It worked well, but it also highlighted how dependent Samsung had become on a competitor’s ecosystem.

Now the company is reportedly in active discussions with Perplexity — possibly even exploring an investment in the startup — to bring a more advanced LLM into its Galaxy phones.

Breaking Google dependence

If the partnership pans out, Bixby could finally take on complex queries, generate summaries, and deliver richer answers that feel closer to what users expect from modern AI assistants. Meanwhile, Bixby would still retain its system-level perks, handling on-device controls and tasks that Gemini can’t access natively.

The idea isn’t to remove Gemini from the Galaxy lineup entirely. Rumors say the S26 may still ship with multiple AI agents, giving users the freedom to choose which assistant handles each request type. If Perplexity’s technology is integrated well, the Galaxy S26 could offer a system in which Samsung’s assistant manages daily interactions while Perplexity manages more complex tasks.

With the Galaxy S26 expected to debut in early 2026, this could be the company’s most meaningful attempt yet to redefine what a Samsung assistant can be.