Apple gets panned fairly regularly for supposedly being behind the curve on AI. Yet, it is Apple's broader AI architecture that is now being replicated by Samsung with a tie-up between Perplexity AI and Bixby.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Samsung just sang a literal paean in favor of its biggest competitor.
Samsung will integrate Perplexity AI with its Bixby voice assistant for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series
As per a tidbit from a fairly respectable tipster, who goes by the username "Semi-retired-ing" on X, Samsung's bespoke voice assistant, Bixby, will leverage Perplexity AI's models to handle the more complicated AI tasks, akin to what Apple already does with its Siri. This AI-focused tie-up is set to debut with the upcoming launch of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series early next year.
This approach suggests that Samsung is eschewing a foundational recalibration of Bixby, a task that would likely have been quite cost-prohibitive. Instead, the South Korean giant is now borrowing a leaf out of Apple's playbook by integrating Perplexity AI's very capable models with its in-house Bixby. Do note that Perplexity already gives Galaxy owners in the US up to 12 months of free subscription to its premium tiers.
Of course, the move might also represent a gambit on Samsung's part to revive Bixby's fortunes on its smartphones, where Google's Gemini AI currently dominates. According to the evolving arrangement, Bixby is likely to handle relatively simple tasks, such as setting up an alarm or adjusting an internal setting. The more complex tasks, however, which include image generation, among others, will likely be handled by Perplexity AI's models.
Apple's AI playbook
Apple Intelligence currently leverages its on-device models for relatively simple tasks, while relying on OpenAI's ChatGPT for the more complex ones. Yet, the iPhone manufacturer is revamping this strategy in the next few months.
We reported in early November that Apple is planning to use a gigantic, albeit tailored, Gemini AI model to power its upcoming revamped Siri. With 1.2 trillion parameters under its belt, the customized Gemini model would "dwarf" the 1.5 billion-parameter, bespoke AI model that Apple currently uses to power Siri in the cloud.
The Cupertino giant already tested OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude LLMs before settling on a customized version of Google's Gemini to process the more complicated user requests that are to be offloaded to the cloud under Apple's Private Cloud Compute framework, where data is stripped of unique identifiers and anonymized to maintain user privacy.
What's more, Apple will reportedly pay Google around $1 billion per year to use Google's proprietary AI technology, forming merely the latest tranche in the ongoing transactional relationship between the two tech giants. After all, Google already pays Apple $20 billion per year for ensuring default search engine privileges within the Safari browser and across other Apple services.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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