The AI assistant could arrive in October at the earliest

Apr 10, 2017 13:28 GMT  ·  By

Together with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Samsung also introduced its new virtual assistant Bixby. However, Bixby is currently available only in English and Korean, with more languages to come along the way.

A recent report reveals that Bixby could arrive in Europe later this year. Specifically, Samsung’s AI assistant might make its way to Germany in the last quarter of 2017, which means that it could arrive in October at the earliest.

The information was spotted in the FAQ section of Samsung’s official website, where a consumer requested details about Bixby’s availability in Germany and Samsung employees replied that Q4 was the deadline for the release.

Bixby competes against Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant

The time frame does seem to fit Galaxy Note 8’s release in the country, which means that new Bixby features could arrive with the launch of Samsung’s next premium smartphone. However, this is just an assumption at this point, we’ll simply have to wait and see if the two events will coincide.

AI assistant Bixby and its full feature set will be available only in English and Korean at launch and it remains to be seen when other languages will be added. Bixby is currently competing against Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, while the former is said to incorporate new skills this fall, when second-generation Pixel smartphones will be announced.

Apple will surely continue improving Siri and add new tools to the virtual assistant with the release of iOS 11 later this year. Moreover, Amazon’s Alexa, which was featured on the Huawei Mate 9 in the US, is also said to receive capabilities for distinguishing between voices.

Samsung’s AI assistant has a long way to go before it can properly take on competitors in the market, especially since Bixby currently has a limited support for third-party apps. But the assistant won’t be integrated solely in Samsung smartphones, the company wishes to incorporate it in smart appliances, TVs and wearables.