Samsung has just unveiled two new foldable phones in China: the W25 and W25 Flip, which are variants of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition and Galaxy Z Flip 6. They have something no other phone has: the next-generation Bixby.

The new version of Bixby can understand natural language better

The new version of Bixby – which already exists on the W25 and W25 Flip – is powered by large language models (LLMs). As a result, Bixby now understands natural language and context much better. It can understand sentences that contain a variety of commands. Samsung gave a few examples of how the new Bixby is better than the current version.

If you ask, “It’s cloudy outside. What should I wear to work today?” Bixby will predict the weather and advise you to wear a raincoat on the way because it might rain. Then, if you ask, “How long will it take me to get there?” Bixby will understand that you want to navigate to your work location and will show you directions and estimated times based on traffic conditions.

Bixby can also provide detailed steps for performing tasks on your Galaxy device. For example, if you ask how to add a watermark to a photo, Bixby will explain the steps in an easy-to-understand way.

Bixby can also pull information from apps and understand context. So when you ask when your family is having a get-together, Bixby will look in the Calendar app and display the relevant entry with the meeting name, date, time, and location.

The new version of Bixby can also help you understand what’s on your screen and help you with context. For example, if you’re chatting with a friend and they tell you to meet them somewhere, you can summon Bixby and ask it to “navigate to this place.” Bixby will look for location information displayed on the screen and then use a map app to show you directions.

New Bixby with modern UI

The new Bixby has a new UI that takes up the entire screen and you can talk to it via text or voice. Some commands will be displayed on the screen. You can use those commands or create new ones. The new Bixby also has colorful animations similar to Gemini and the new Siri.

You will be able to summon Bixby anywhere on your phone. You can summon it during a conversation with a friend and ask about things on the screen. You can also summon it while surfing the web and ask it to translate a web page into a language you know. Bixby can also create documents based on your requests.

When will you be able to use the new version of Bixby?

Currently, the new Bixby is only available on the W25 and W25 Flip in China. Samsung says it may soon support other Galaxy devices.

While the new version of Bixby isn't available globally yet, Samsung could release it globally (depending on supported languages) with One UI 7.0 early next year.