What is the Samsung equivalent of Siri?

Samsung’s equivalent of Siri is Bixby. The personal assistant launched around the Galaxy S8 and its early reviews were as bad as Siri’s for a very long time. Like Apple, Samsung continued to bet on its Bixby assistant, even offering an exclusive button, but today the company has given priority to Google Gemini, which, in fact, has also bought Apple, since even the new Siri in iOS 27 uses exclusive Gemini models to power all its functionalities.

However, before we dive deep into Google Gemini and how it took over Samsung phones, it’s important to go back to 2017, when Samsung introduced Bixby. At the time, the company had a great vision: “Instead of humans learning how the machine interacts with the world, it is the machine that must learn and adapt to us. » In theory, Bixby should be able to execute touch commands, have contextual awareness and cognitive tolerance. Bixby-enabled apps should work just like today’s AIs. In reality, the personal assistant was lagging, and as the owner of a Galaxy S8+ phone, I wanted to cry every time the personal assistant interface appeared because it would take me a minute to cancel it.

Although it was an answer to Google Assistant’s Cortana and Siri, it took forever for the Bixby assistant to get good. However, while we will explore Bixby’s current capabilities further, the fact is that Google Gemini has become the go-to AI for Samsung phones.

In 2026, Samsung introduced an all-new Bixby with OneUI 8.5, in addition to other important features for Galaxy phones. With this update, the personal assistant gains support for natural language queries and knowledge of the world based on updated online responses. The new Bixby can do things like hold the Keep screen on while viewing setting when the user says something like “I don’t want the screen to time out while I’m still looking at it.” Another possibility might be something like “Why is my phone screen always on when it’s in my pocket?” ”, to which the assistant will understand the context of what is displayed and the activated parameters, to give a precise answer.

Samsung has also focused on real-time web search capabilities, as the personal assistant can help you find a hotel for your next vacation, a restaurant where you can always book a reservation, and much more, without redirecting you to a separate browser or app.

According to Samsung, as the company continues to integrate AI into its phones, it wants to further integrate Bixby into the device so that it can function as an agent, instead of redirecting users to other apps or pages. Yet while Samsung continues to be proud of its personal assistant, it has moved from a focused button to exclusively using the side button to call up Bixby, to now allowing users to upgrade to Google Gemini. Although there are currently no plans to phase out Bixby, Samsung and Google continue to improve their partnership.

As Google pushes Gemini as the primary AI for Android, manufacturers are also trying the technology. Starting today, Samsung phones can set Google Gemini as their primary personal assistant by going to Settings > Apps > Choose default apps > Digital Assistant app > and selecting Google. To launch Gemini with the side button, users need to go to Settings > Advanced features > Side button > Long press, which is one of the coolest features Samsung phones can offer.

However, more than this freedom to choose your own AI, with the release of the new Samsung Galaxy Fold devices, Google showed off three new features at the Unpacked event: better Gemini integration, Gemini Notebook capabilities, and Gemini capabilities for Samsung’s upcoming smart glasses. With Gemini Intelligence, users can enjoy the automation of tasks that can help you make purchases, book dinners, book trips or buy tickets in a simple way. On the Galaxy Z Flip8, for example, users can access this support from the Flex Window by pressing and holding the power button.

With Gemini Notebook, users can drag and drop files into a side-by-side workspace, designed for a foldable display, while Samsung’s upcoming smart glasses with Warby Parker will use Gemini models to power the experience, while a compatible Wear OS watch will allow users to control the glasses with a simple hand gesture. So while Samsung’s Siri equivalent has been Bixby for a very long time, we see the company changing that as Google Gemini slowly takes over its devices.