Bixby is still a thing? Samsung unveils new Bixby assistant as part of One UI 8.5 beta — then deletes the whole announcement

Yes, Bixby still exists and apparently is inline for a major AI overhaul. Earlier today (Jan. 20), Samsung announced a Bixby reboot and then mysteriously deleted posts about it.

The refreshed assistant was announced via a post in the Samsung US newsroom (initially spotted by SamMobile). Reportedly, the post confirmed an AI future for Bixby and Perplexity integration.

However, the article has since been taken down and now goes to "Page not found" error page. But we do have some key details thanks to SamMobile and SammyGuru.

The big news is that Bixby's update is being powered by Perplexity as Samsung execs seem to believe AI will get people to use AI.

“Since we introduced our first AI phone in 2024, we’ve been committed to making them easier to use so more people can benefit from AI,” Won-Joon Choi, Samsung's Chief Operating Officer was reportedly quoted in the press release.

“That’s why we decided to integrate a device agent directly into the experience. To support this, we redesigned Bixby to enable more natural interactions and intuitive device control, reducing friction in everyday tasks," he added.

Bixby in action

SamMobile was able to capture some GIFs showing Bixby responding to queries in real time. The examples included prompts like "Find me a hotel in Seoul that has a swimming pool for kids." That's where Perplexity comes, as it will power real-time web searches.

Apparently, Samsung wants Bixby to be more useful than AI assistants like Gemini or Siri. One example was a user prompting, "I don't want the screen to time out while I'm still looking at it." In this instance, Bixby would use AI to understand your intent and enable the "Keep Screen On While Viewing" setting.

Potential release date

The new Bixby is supposed to launch as part of the One UI 8.5 beta program. The fourth beta build of One UI 8.5 is supposed to launch this week, though the Samsung-focused sites suggest it could appear as its own separate update.

It all implies that the revamped Bixby and stable One UI 8.5 will launch alongside the Galaxy S26 series, which we expect to debut in February.

It's not clear why Samsung deleted its post; perhaps the information went up too soon. For now we'll keep an eye on Samsung's newsroom to see if more information comes out.

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