Given Samsung's heavy reliance on Google for AI in recent years, it almost seemed like the in-house Bixby assistant had taken a back seat. But Samsung hasn’t forgotten Bixby.

In fact, it looks like the company is planning a Bixby revival, and with the new Galaxy S26 series and One UI 8.5, the assistant is getting a major upgrade.

Samsung has integrated the latest Bixby version in One UI 8.5 with Perplexity AI. This combination takes Samsung’s assistant to a new level of artificial intelligence. Here’s why it matters.

The first things you'll notice upon launching Bixby on the Galaxy S26 are a redesigned UI and the fact that the assistant is a lot easier to converse with.

Thanks to Perplexity, Bixby now better understands natural language. It's also easier to review past interactions.

Deeper web integration

Bixby's Perplexity muscle allows you to ask any questions and receive relevant information fetched from the web in real time. You don't have to leave Bixby or launch a web browser to access that information.

You can look up events, hotels, and other places of interest, and you can be specific. For example, you could ask Bixby for a hotel with a swimming pool, and the Perplexity engine will deliver that information inside Bixby.

Deeper One UI system integration

One other neat trick this new Bixby version for One UI 8.5 and the S26 can do is help you control system settings more seamlessly.

Because you can now use natural language commands, asking Bixby to change settings on your phone has never been easier. You can be more conversational, and Bixby will understand. You can ask for a solution, and Bixby will show relevant system settings within its UI. You won't have to open the Settings app on your phone and navigate to the desired settings.

Despite the AI upgrade, language support still limits reach. Bixby currently supports English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese, along with some accents and dialects. However, not all accents, dialects, and expressions may be recognized.

The Perplexity-powered Bixby launches first on the Galaxy S26 series and will expand to more Samsung devices through the One UI 8.5 update.