14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has already launched Cortana for Android as part of the company’s efforts to make all of its software available on rival platforms, and now it looks like the personal assistant also comes in a very special version exclusively aimed at Samsung phones.
Published in the Google Play store as “Cortana for Samsung (Unreleased),” the new Android version of Cortana is listed as unreleased and Microsoft says it could be unstable, and this is a warning that you should have in mind when planning to install it.
At this point, it’s not yet clear if there’s any difference between the Samsung version of Cortana and the Android release available for all the other phones, but there’s absolutely no information in this regard in Google Play. Furthermore, they’re both at version 2.7.0, and this could be a hint the two builds are similar.
Developed for the Samsung Galaxy S8?
On the other hand, there’s some speculation that makes sense given the partnership between Samsung and Microsoft.
The Redmond-based software giant recently started selling the Galaxy S8 and S8+, Samsung’s two new flagships, in the Microsoft Store in the United States, in exchange for the South Korean phone manufacturer pre-installing Microsoft apps on its own devices, including Skype, Office, and OneDrive.
The Galaxy S8 series comes with a dedicated button for Samsung’s own digital assistant called Bixby, so there’s a chance that Microsoft developed a separate version of Cortana for these devices in order to get the two assistants play nice together.
At the same time, Microsoft could also use the Bixby button to launch Cortana at some point in the future, though we really doubt that given the aggressive push that Samsung has embraced for its own personal assistant.
In the meantime, you can download the Samsung version of Cortana using this link, and make sure you let us know in the comment box below if you spot any difference.