Due to its close relationship with Google, Samsung has been pushing Gemini as its go-to AI assistant on the company’s various mobile devices. However, a recent interview between Bloomberg and Samsung Electronics executive Choi Won-joon suggests that the Galaxy S26 might launch with support for not just Gemini, but a slew of other possible AI assistants, including Perplexity.
While it doesn’t sound like any official decisions have been made yet, Choi said that Samsung was “talking to multiple vendors” in regard to the AI chatbots that it will employ on its next flagship phone. This has led many to believe that future Samsung devices like the S26 could come with ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and perhaps even other AI agents pre-installed.
This would make using them as your go-to digital assistant much easier overall, and that’s a win for Samsung and its customers, if you ask me. Exactly what level of access those chatbots would have to the device and your data is unclear at the moment, but it’s also unclear if this will happen at all.
Google and Samsung have a strong relationship
Many of the questions surrounding these potential partnerships come from the relationship that Google and Samsung have had. Samsung has acted as the de facto face of Gemini in recent years, with the company selling some of the first devices to offer new Google AI features, like Circle to Search. While Google still holds onto some features for the Pixel lineup — that new Pixel 10 lineup is looking pretty sweet so far — Samsung has by far the most Gemini features beyond Google’s own branded devices.
As such, it will be interesting to see how well that relationship holds up if Samsung is actually looking at bringing other AI assistants into the mix, as we know Google paid Samsung a great deal of money to put Gemini on the S25. Gemini isn’t everyone’s AI assistant of choice, so it would be an improvement to be able to key into Perplexity, ChatGPT, or any other chat option more easily. Exactly how easy that will be, though, remains to be seen, as we still have to wait and see if these talks result in any changes in the long run.
