What Is The Samsung Equivalent To Siri?

Samsung's equivalent to Siri is Bixby. The personal assistant was released around the Galaxy S8, and its initial reviews were as bad as Siri's were for the longest time. Like Apple, Samsung kept betting on its Bixby assistant, even offering an exclusive button for it, but nowadays the company has been prioritizing Google Gemini, which, truth be told, has also taken over Apple, as even the new Siri in iOS 27 uses exclusive Gemini models to power all its features.

However, before diving 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 beautiful view: "Instead of humans learning how the machine interacts with the world, it is the machine that needs to learn and adapt to us." In theory, Bixby should be able to perform touch commands, would have context awareness, and cognitive tolerance. Bixby-enabled applications should work exactly as today's AIs. In reality, the personal assistant was laggy, and as an owner of a Galaxy S8+ phone, I wanted to cry every time the personal assistant interface appeared because it would take a minute for me to cancel out of it.

While it was a response to Google Assistant's Cortana, and Siri, it took forever for the Bixby assistant to get good. However, while we'll explore more about Bixby's current capabilities, the fact is that Google Gemini became the go-to AI for Samsung phones.

In 2026, Samsung introduced an all-new Bixby with OneUI 8.5, in addition to some other big features for Galaxy phones. With this update, the personal assistant got support for queries in natural language and world knowledge based on updated online answers. The new Bixby can do things like maintain 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 can 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's being displayed, and the settings turned on, to give an accurate reply.

Samsung also put a big focus on real-time web search capabilities, as the personal assistant can help you find a hotel for your next holiday, a restaurant that you can still book a reservation at, and more without redirecting you to a separate browser or app.

According to Samsung, as the company keeps pushing AI into its phones, it wants to make Bixby more integrated with the device so it can work like an agent, instead of redirecting users to other apps or pages. Still, while Samsung continues to be proud of its personal assistant, it went from a focused button, to then the exclusivity of using the side button to invoke Bixby to now allowing users to switch to Google Gemini. While there are no present plans to phase out Bixby, Samsung and Google keep improving their partnership.

As Google pushes Gemini as the main AI for Android, manufacturers are also giving this technology a try. As of today, Samsung phones can set Google Gemini as the main personal assistant by going to Settings > Apps > Choose Default apps > Digital Assistant App > and select Google. To launch Gemini with the side button, tusers need to go to Settings > Advanced Features > Side Button > Long Press, which is one of the coolest features Samsung phones can do.

However, more than this freedom to choose your own AI, with the release of the new Samsung Galaxy Fold devices, Google introduced three new features at the Unpacked event: better Gemini integration, Gemini Notebook capabilities, and Gemini capabilities for Samsung's upcoming intelligent eyewear devices. With Gemini Intelligence, users can take advantage of task automation that can help you shop, make dinner reservations, book travel, or buy tickets in a straightforward way. On the Galaxy Z Flip8, for example, users can get access to this assistance from the Flex Window by long pressing the power button.

With Gemini Notebook, users can drag and drop files into a side-by-side workspace, which has been 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 let users control the glasses with a hand gesture. So, while Samsung's equivalent to Siri has been Bixby for the longest time, we're seeing the company switch that as Google Gemini slowly takes over its devices.