Samsung is rumored to launch the much-awaited Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone at the MWC 2017 in February, which will house new features to lure consumers.
Rumors that Samsung has its very own AI assistant — dubbed Bixby — in the works have been swirling online for a while and now a new report reaffirms the speculation that the South Korean OEM has a Siri challenger up its sleeve.
According to a report from Dutch blog GalaxyClub, Samsung could be announcing the Bixby to the world in the near future. The blog spotted a page on the Samsung Pay Beta website, which lists three services that the company intends to push out.
The drop-down menu on the Samsung Pay's website has references to three new services namely: Bixby, Shopping and Mini. However, the list appears on the Samsung Pay Beta which suggests that these services are being tested currently.
Samsung Pay Mini
The Samsung Pay Mini could possibly be a simplified and stripped-down version of the firm's mobile payment platform. Based on reports, the Samsung Pay Mini version will enable users to make payments for services and goods that are offered by online retailers.
Bixby
Bixby is Samsung's next-generation AI-powered personal assistant, which has been created by Viv Labs.
In November, Samsung filed for the trademark rights for the name Bixby. However, the company stayed mum on the presence of its very own virtual assistant. Rumors have been rife that Samsung will introduce Bixby to the world with the arrival of its Galaxy S8. The voice assistant would possibly tied into the smartphone's software much like the Google Assistant.
Bixby is expected to be far more advanced compared with the company's S voice feature. A strong possibility exists that the Galaxy S8 is going to replace the S Voice feature with Bixby.
With Bixby on board the Samsung Galaxy S8, the smartphone's users would be able to use the feature to access the Gallery app and enlist the personal assistant's help to see pictures and videos. Such a feature will be comparable to Apple's Photos app in iOS 10.
Bixby may also be able to process payments made via Samsung Pay.
Shopping
It is not clear what the Shopping service embedded into the Samsung Pay would be.
Release?
There is no word on when the three rumored services, which are possibly in beta now, will be made available to users.
The Galaxy S8 will possibly come with the latest version of Samsung Pay and may benefit from the three services. The smartphone is rumored to launch at the MWC 2017, so we will have to wait and watch if these Samsung Pay features indeed make an appearance on the handset.
Whether Samsung intends to push them out via a software update for older-gen models once it outs the Galaxy S8 remains to be seen.
