Samsung Galaxy S26: Perplexity receives its own hotword "Hey Plex"

After Samsung announced the revival of its voice assistant, Bixby, just last week, the company is expanding its Galaxy AI ecosystem with a third AI platform: Perplexity, alongside Gemini and Bixby, will be integrated at the system level, initially on the Galaxy S26.

Perplexity becomes part of Galaxy AI

Samsung explains that users, according to their findings, “increasingly use multiple AI agents depending on the task, as AI is becoming more and more integrated into everyday life.” According to Samsung, almost 8 out of 10 users rely on more than two types of AI agents. To follow this trend and simplify the switching between AI tools for users, Samsung is expanding its Galaxy AI ecosystem “to support a selection of integrated agents, allowing users to choose the experiences that best suit their needs, preferences, and habits,” the company explains.

By integrating Perplexity into Galaxy AI, the chatbot is intended to offer more capabilities than a simple app installed on a Galaxy smartphone: According to the manufacturer, Perplexity is more deeply integrated into the system and is said to have access to Samsung Notes, the clock, gallery, reminders, and calendar, as well as selected third-party apps. However, Samsung has not specified which apps these are.

Samsung further explains that the integration into Galaxy AI reduces the need “to switch between apps or repeat commands, allowing Galaxy AI to work in the background.” Perplexity is thus “seamlessly integrated into the Galaxy environment.” The assistant can also be activated with its own hotword “Hey Plex,” similar to Google's Gemini with “Hey Google” or Bixby with “Hey Bixby.”

The company is likely to explain how Samsung envisions the use of the multi-AI tools introduced with the Galaxy S26 at the Unpacked event on February 25th.

Motorola also relies on multiple chatbots

Samsung is not the first company to rely on multiple AI assistants on its Android devices. In Motorola's current models, Perplexity's AI-powered search is directly integrated into Moto AI, and Microsoft's Copilot can also be accessed through it, with Google's Gemini apparently being the default assistant. The partnership with Samsung, the world's largest Android smartphone manufacturer, is likely to mean a massive growth spurt for Perplexity.

Samsung is unlikely to face any sanctions or restrictions of any kind from Google regarding the integration of Perplexity into Bixby. Because, according to an agreement with Google, Samsung and other manufacturers are allowed to install alternative generative AI services alongside Gemini.

(afl)