Samsung Galaxy S8 may launch globally on April 21 without Bixby Voice feature

Samsung has recently come up with a statement that mentions the absence of Bixby Voice on Galaxy S8 and S8+ global variant. The global launch of the new Galaxy smartphones is slated for April 21, which includes India as well.

Read: Samsung Bixby: everything you need to know

The missing Bixby Voice means the voice assistant will lack voice controls. This means that Galaxy S8 and S8+ will miss on a key feature. The change might sound tiny, but this will affect some customers who are considering Bixby as one of the reasons to buy the device.

Samsung’s official statement has reportedly clarified that both the Galaxy S8 and S8+ will come with Bixby features including Vision, Home, Reminder. But the Bixby Voice will only be limited to US launching in spring this year.

As per a report by Engadget, Samsung said, "With its intelligent interface and contextual awareness, Bixby will make your phone more helpful by assisting in completing tasks, telling you what you're looking at, learning your routine and remembering what you need to do. Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21. Bixby Voice will be available in the U.S. on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.” 

Also Read: Can new smartphone design and AI assistants transform 'smartphone experience'?

Bixby was launched alongside the new Galaxy S8 and S8+. It is a voice controlled AI based digital assistant, which is aimed to give you a new way to interact with your phone, bypassing the touchscreen. We must note that Bixby currently supports only English and Korean languages, and only Galaxy S8/S8+ have the feature for now. You can expect it to become a standard feature in Samsung smartphones unless it fails to make an impact.

Sudhanshu Singh

Sudhanshu Singh have been working in tech journalism as a reporter, writer, editor, and reviewer for over 5 years. He has reviewed hundreds of products ranging across categories and have also written opinions, guides, feature articles, news, and analysis. Ditching the norm of armchair journalism in tech media, Sudhanshu dug deep into how emerging products and services affect actual users, and what marks they leave on our cultural landscape.
His areas of expertise along with writing and editing include content strategy, daily operations, product and team management.