A high ranking Samsung official has officially announced that an updated version of Bixby (Bixby 2.0) will be rolled out to Samsung Galaxy 9 users.

 

“For Bixby 1.0, we focused on a fast rollout to the market. Expanding the ecosystem was difficult. So Bixby 2.0 will strengthen this aspect, and we are working intensely,” Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh told the media during a press conference at Mobile World Congress.

Koh revealed this information after Samsung Electronics officially unveiled the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus at this year’s MWC.

 

What is Bixby 2.0?

 

In case you don’t know, Bixby 2.0 is actually an updated version of its virtual assistant on the Galaxy Note 9.

 

“In December last year, we began taking applications for the public beta version. So far over 800 companies have applied and are testing it.At this speed, I think we will be able to unveil Bixby 2.0 when we launch the Galaxy Note 9,” Koh added.

So what to expect with Bixby 2.0, the Samsung official said that the updated virtual assistant would support more devices outside of smartphones. Apart from this, Bixby 2.0 also received an upgrade for its speech recognition facility.

After Bixby 2.0, the company will also release another virtual assistant for its smart TV. This includes the company’s latest QLED flagship TV brands which are slated to be revealed come April.

Will Bixby support other devices?

 

Now, a rumor also indicates that Samsung is already developing a technology that would support multiple speakers. This as Bixby would soon recognize individual voices, Eui-Suk Chung, executive vice president and head of software and AI, told the audience during MWC’s press conference.

 

“Bixby won’t be tied to a specific device. The ultimate goal is to make it ubiquitous,” he added.

 

“Samsung is unique in that it has TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, phones, PCs, and almost every consumer electronics. We also make the module chips that go in them needed in IoT. AI speaker will also be one among them,” Koh further explained.

 

Koh, meanwhile, pointed out that Samsung is now gearing up for several marketing campaigns. One of these campaigns is to expand trade-in programs for old phones.

 

Koh also disclosed that a new division would concentrate on 5G. “A change to 5G will happen faster and more seriously compared to the change from feature phones to smartphones 10 years ago, so we are preparing,” Koh noted.