Samsung keeps reviving Bixby in new ways, and I still don't know who it's for

Samsung’s next major Android update is beginning to leak, and one of the strange changes involves Bixby.

SamMobile reports that Samsung is testing new Bixby widgets for the home screen, including 2x1, 2x2, and 4x2 layouts.

One version reportedly includes a text input box, which would let users type directly to Bixby from the launcher. That is surprising because Samsung has spent its last two Galaxy S launches putting Gemini front and center.

The company has leaned heavily on Google’s assistant for AI features, and holding the side button now launches Gemini by default.

So what exactly is Bixby doing back on the home screen? If Samsung has already given Gemini the most important assistant shortcut, the new widgets raise a bigger question about where Bixby still fits.

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Bixby still has a job, even if Gemini gets the spotlight

Google talks, Bixby adjusts

Gemini is Samsung’s AI front. It is the assistant for questions, summaries, travel plans, bookings, and Google-connected tasks.

Bixby is the in-house mechanic. It has a narrower job, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Samsung’s assistant can reach into Samsung apps, device controls, and routines.

The problem is that the roles are starting to blur. Bixby, now with Perplexity behind it, can answer questions too.

Gemini can also reach into parts of Samsung’s apps and system settings. That overlap makes it harder to know which assistant to use.

Still, Bixby is not irrelevant yet. Phones already have too many buried toggles, and Galaxy phones have more than most. For that kind of on-device control, Bixby still has a lane.

Samsung does not need another assistant box on the home screen

Too many AI front doors

Being useful in the right moments does not mean Bixby needs a permanent spot on the home screen.

A mechanic earns their keep by fixing something and getting out of the way. You do not move the workbench into your living room.

That is the problem with a text-entry widget. It asks users to treat Bixby as a starting point. Go to the home screen, tap the assistant box, then type a prompt.

For many tasks, that sounds more roundabout than opening Quick Settings, using search, or long-pressing the side button for Gemini.

And with all these different AI layers sharing the same phone, the whole setup becomes harder to understand.

Maybe each assistant has a clear role inside Samsung and Google’s product teams.

For the user, though, it means figuring out invisible routing logic on a device that was supposed to be a phone, not an org chart.

Samsung does not want Galaxy phones to become expensive Google shells

Samsung cannot hand over everything

From Samsung’s perspective, this makes sense. The company does not want Galaxy phones turning into expensive Google boxes.

Android already gives Google plenty of influence over the phone. Samsung has already stepped back once by pushing Google Messages over Samsung Messages.

Letting Gemini become the only assistant that matters would hand Google another major piece of the Galaxy identity.

That makes Bixby a kind of insurance policy that keeps the company’s own software identity alive.

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It gives Samsung a way to tie together SmartThings and everything else it wants inside the Galaxy ecosystem.

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The boring version of Bixby is probably what Galaxy phones need

Useful without the spotlight

There is a technical case for Bixby, too. Changing a setting or running a routine should be fast and reliable. If Bixby can handle more of that closer to the system layer, then it has a role Gemini may never fully replace.

That is the strongest defense of Bixby. Samsung phones need a system-level operator, and Samsung is not wrong to build one.

But again, the issue is presentation. That kind of operator should feel built into the phone, not advertised as another assistant fighting for attention.

Bixby’s future is probably underneath the home screen, not on it

Power users who know exactly what they want will probably keep using routines, settings search, Quick Settings, Gemini, or their own shortcuts.

Casual users are unlikely to understand why one assistant lives on the side button, and another wants widget space.

And people who have already ignored Bixby are not suddenly going to build their home screen around it because the box gets bigger.