Gemini replacing Bixby was Samsung’s biggest S25 announcement, and barely anyone noticed – Android Police

Samsung may have hosted a physical event to introduce the Galaxy S25 series‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã‚Äã, but the headlining features of the new phones are almost entirely software. This made for a not particularly exciting series of announcements, even if they were a good look at current strategies for integrating AI into every part of smartphone operating systems. In the case of the S25 and

One UI 7
, it’s an AI-generated Now Brief, AI-powered editing tools, and expanded Gemini features.
Gemini’s new skills are critical because one of Samsung’s subtler updates involved a reassignment. Instead of dedicating the S25’s side button to

Bixby
, Samsung’s main voice assistant since 2017, pressing it now calls up Google Gemini. There are multiple ways to read this change. Samsung and Google are serious about making generative AI a key part of using a smartphone. Still, it also seems that having a physical way to interact with AI assistants could be a large part of what makes one more successful than the other. Not the experience I was promised
Just like on a

Google Pixel
, on a Galaxy S25, you can hold down the same button you use to turn off your phone to ask for help from Gemini. Besides asking for Gemini by voice, pressing a button is one of the fastest ways to ask for Al-powered help. That’s easier to make second nature, and it puts the more flexible of the two AI assistants in easy reach. It hasn’t made sense for Bixby to be the default option on Samsung devices for a while now. Samsung introduced Bixby as an alternative to Siri. It’s a voice assistant on every Galaxy device you can access when needed, even without an internet connection. The assistant hasn’t compared to its competitors because it never excelled in the domain of general knowledge. Instead, it navigates your phone. Bixby made it easier to use Samsung Experience, the transitional skin Samsung used before launching One UI in 2018. Years of new features built up a cacophony of menus and settings screens, and Bixby could cut through the noise and turn off Bluetooth or adjust other settings when you asked.Besides asking for Gemini by voice, pressing a button is one of the fastest ways to ask for Al-powered help.
Bixby became more general-purpose over time and picked up new skills. Recently, Samsung

added natural language support
to Bixby, making it easier to interact with the assistant without being misunderstood. Like Siri, it’s never matched Google Assistant or Alexa in the number of apps it was integrated with or the knowledge base it could draw from. Samsung held on to Bixby’s prominent spot on the side of its Galaxy devices. Until recently, you had to dive into the settings

to reassign it to something else
, if you preferred to use the assistant baked into Android rather than Samsung’s version. Bixby is installed on the Galaxy S25 series, but you must look for it to find it. Samsung and Google agree that a combination of Gemini for general knowledge and Galaxy AI for specialized features makes more sense for these new phones. It makes sense that Gemini would get a more prominent position. Bixby alone doesn’t cut it. Samsung evicting Bixby and switching to Gemini is no small feat. It’s a good representation of how much the relationship between Google and its biggest partner has changed over the last few years. Samsung’s early Galaxy S phones tried to look, feel, and behave differently from the stock Android experience. Samsung spent significant effort directing new phone owners to its apps and services over Google’s. Bixby is a perfect example of how the company was trying to operate.Samsung had no reason to do anything other than play by the bare minimum of Google’s rules to keep using Android, and Google lost control over what its operating system was supposed to be outside its phones.The recent turn of how Samsung adopting Google Messages helped rebuild Wear OS, acting as a venue for new Search and Gemini features, and now building one of the first headsets for Android XR shows how Samsung and Google can benefit from each other. Putting Gemini where it can be easily accessed should make AI more popular. If dedicated AI gadgets seemed like a compelling way to turn software tools into products, then maybe the simpler solution to making generative AI popular and accessible is to give it a dedicated space on the phones everyone already carries. The advantage Apple, Google, and Microsoft have in getting people to use AI is controlling their own operating systems. They decide when and how you use these features, going a long way toward governing how much you rely on them. That’s not an advantage anyone else has. That might be why OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is working on hardware for his company’s AI products with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive. Even with the best brand recognition, ChatGPT might benefit from being accessible on something you can hold.Setting aside Samsung’s attempts to make One UI 7 more proactive, Gemini taking Bixby’s spot shows how Samsung and Google are getting closer. More importantly, it suggests that if the software seems to be where new Android phones are innovating, the success of that software is still dependent on the buttons that allow you to use it.We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.Your comment has not been savedYou sound surprised.Why would people notice something replacing something they don’t use??Almost every Samsung owner disables Bixby and a LOT of them remap the key to work with Google. ü§∑‚Äç‚ôÇIn other words, with or without Bixby, nothing is really changing.The only thing different is that now people can’t use it, and before they chose to not use it.Nobody wants AI aside from executives in corporations… Most of it is not even Ai, its just marketed as Ai. Drawing assistant Ai lol….Spell checker Ai….ok lol. The only Ai that I use is the “Gemini Assistant” that replaces Google Assistant, sometimes can be somewhat useful while traveling. But you can get same results in any messenger now.WrongWhat took you so long, Samsung?No Experience Needed, No Boss Over il Your FD Shoulder‚Ķ Say Goodbye To Your Old Job! Limited Number Of Spots Open‚Ķ‚Ķ. earningedge69.blogspot.dk¬≠The only thing I use Bixby for is setting reminders and making timers. It seems like a waste of AI for the same stuff, given that it takes way more energy to run a LLM.Now we wait for them to remove all the other redundant features like Samsung SmartThings, Samsung Calendar and Samsung Health since Google has their own version.Why would they remove it? Samsung stuff works better. Need to remove Google services and have Samsung services sync with Google No way they remove Samaung Health. That’s my go to on all my Samsung devices and it’s great. I also use Samsung Calendar, it’s not redundant because it connects with Google and pulls in other events from there but it’s well integrated into the phone osCheck your order status72 hours with Samsung’s latestSamsung needs to do betterNot the upgrade we were hoping forThe brand really wants Exynos to be a thingIs Android evolving into iOS, or vice versa?

Source: https://www.androidpolice.com/gemini-button-bixby-demoted/