Earlier in the year, Samsung said that the next generation of its smart Bixby assistant would probably be appearing at the same time as the Galaxy Note 9, and now it's confirmed that match-up in an interview in the Korea Herald (via Engadget).
Head of AI research at the company, Gray G. Lee, said that Bixby 2.0 would appear on the scene with "enhanced natural language processes, improved noise resistance capability and quicker response times". If you've been thinking about giving Bixby a second chance, this might be a good opportunity.
Lee didn't mention the Galaxy Note 9 by name, but did say the upgraded digital assistant is arriving with Samsung's next flagship in the second half of 2018. With the Samsung Galaxy S10 not due until January at least, he must be talking about the Note series.
Bixby 2.0 vs the rest
Samsung is investing more researchers into its artificial intelligence efforts, as per the interview, and is getting all of its products connected to Bixby by 2020. The company added Bixby to its TVs this year, but there are still plenty of gaps in the ecosystem.
Bixby 2.0 is certainly up against some stiff competition. Siri comes built into macOS and iOS, Cortana comes with every Windows PC and is available on mobile too, Amazon's Alexa continues to get smarter all the time, and Google Assistant's newest trick is ringing up restaurants to make bookings for you.
Despite the challenges ahead, Samsung seems determined to keep investing in Bixby, so we'll see what's changed when the Galaxy Note 9 appears – possibly in late July. Presumably older Samsung devices will get some Bixby 2.0 love as well.
