In the quiet war to define the future of AI on your smartphone, Samsung may have just pulled off a decisive flanking manoeuvre.
According to a Bloomberg report that’s raised more than a few eyebrows in Silicon Valley, the South Korean tech giant is nearing a sweeping deal with American AI upstart Perplexity—a partnership that could redraw the battle lines in mobile AI.
If the deal goes through (and insiders suggest it’s more a question of “when” than “if”), Samsung could soon make Perplexity’s app, assistant, and search tech a core part of its hardware experience. That means integration into Samsung’s browser, a potential reimagining of the beleaguered Bixby assistant, and, most crucially, positioning Perplexity as the default AI agent on future Galaxy phones—starting with the Galaxy S26, due in 2026.
That would be a shot across the bow for Google, which has long had a cozy relationship with Samsung. Galaxy phones come preloaded with Google’s services, including Gemini, Android’s default AI assistant. But this new tie-up suggests Samsung isn’t content to play second fiddle in the AI revolution. Not anymore.
AI Gets Political
In a world where search is no longer just about links, but answers, context, and personalisation, Perplexity has positioned itself as a fast-rising alternative to the old guard. It doesn’t just serve up a list of web results—it crafts direct responses, drawing from multiple sources in real time.
For Samsung, a company that’s always seemed on the edge of defining software innovation but never quite arrived, this could be a game-changer.
“This is about control,” says a senior industry analyst who spoke off-record. “Samsung knows it’s always been Google’s biggest OEM. But in an AI-first world, whoever owns the assistant, owns the interface. And that means owning the customer.”
To that end, Samsung is also reportedly preparing to become one of Perplexity’s largest backers in a $500 million funding round. The startup is chasing a $14 billion valuation, with sources suggesting Samsung NEXT—Samsung’s investment arm—has already had its foot in the door.
This isn’t just about widgets and apps. It’s about who gets to be the brain behind the glass.
Lessons from Motorola
Samsung isn’t the first phone maker to cosy up to Perplexity. In April, Motorola inked a deal to bundle the startup’s AI assistant on its latest handsets, including the new Razr. That partnership lets users run Perplexity from the external display—even when the device is folded shut. It also enables deeper functions like restaurant bookings and content exploration via natural language search.
That might sound gimmicky, but it’s part of a broader shift: AI agents are no longer just glorified encyclopedias—they’re evolving into digital concierges. And Samsung doesn’t want to miss that train.
While Motorola is giving users access to multiple AI agents, including Google, Meta, and Microsoft’s offerings, Samsung may be betting that a deeper, more exclusive integration could deliver the cohesion that Bixby never did.
Bixby’s Second Chance?
Ah, Bixby. Once pitched as Samsung’s answer to Siri, it has mostly languished in the shadows. Clunky, awkward, and largely forgotten, Bixby was less virtual assistant and more virtual embarrassment. But sources suggest the Perplexity deal could offer it a second life.
Instead of scrapping Bixby entirely, Samsung may rewire it—infusing it with Perplexity’s large language model (LLM) smarts and turning it into something new: an on-device assistant that knows you, learns from you, and—crucially—doesn’t rely on Google’s cloud.
Whether users would be open to trusting a reanimated Bixby, even with Perplexity’s help, remains to be seen. But in a world where privacy, personalisation, and offline capability are becoming key differentiators, Samsung has little to lose.
Final Thoughts: A High-Stakes Gamble
If Samsung pulls this off, it could signal a new era where hardware makers aren’t just vessels for Android, but active players in the AI economy. But it’s a risky play. Alienating Google, even slightly, comes with consequences. Remember, Google pays Samsung billions in search revenue every year. That’s not a faucet you want turned off.
Still, the bigger picture is clear: Samsung is tired of being the middleman in someone else’s software story. And Perplexity, with its rapidly rising profile and clean-sheet approach to AI, offers a rare chance at narrative control.
As the AI wars heat up, it’s becoming less about who builds the best phone, and more about who builds the smartest assistant. Samsung is betting that the future of mobile won’t be defined by apps—but by agents.
And this time, they’re not waiting for Google’s permission.
