Goodbye Gemini, hello Perplexity

The news comes courtesy of Bloomberg’s ever-accurate Mark Gurman, who claims that Samsung is close to finalising a deal with Perplexity AI to put the AI-powered search tech from the AI giant at the forefront of future Galaxy devices. 

The report goes on to claim that the companies are in talks to pre-load the Perplexity app onto upcoming devices, as well as integrating the tech into Samsung Browser and maybe even the oft-neglected Bixby. The biggest change will undoubtedly be Perplexity’s AI assistant, which could be the default AI assistant in future releases.

The companies have also discussed building AI-powered operating systems with AI agents “that can tap into functionality from Perplexity and a range of other AI assistants,” though that sounds like something planned for the far future – if it happens at all. 

The deal is set to be announced later this year, but it seems like Perplexity won’t make its debut on Samsung-branded smartphones until early 2026 – just in time for the release of Samsung’s Galaxy S26 collection.

Trusted Take: It might not be the end for Gemini

Opinion

This might not signal the end of Google Gemini on Samsung phones – just like the introduction of Gemini didn’t kill off Bixby. Well, not completely, anyway. 

Just like Samsung’s homegrown assistant, it’s entirely possible that you’ll have a choice between using Perplexity, Gemini or Bixby on the Galaxy S26 collection and some of the best Samsung phones of next year – though it sounds like Perplexity might be the default when you first set your phone up. 

Either way, if the rumours are true, we should find out more about the partnership later this year, giving us a good idea of what to expect from next year’s flagship Samsung smartphone collection. Until then? You’ll just have to download the (already impressively capable) Perplexity app on your phone.