Samsung says Galaxy S26 will let users switch between AI models

In short: Samsung says future Galaxy devices will support multiple AI models, starting with the Galaxy S26 series on February 25, 2026.

What happened

Samsung’s device chief said upcoming Galaxy phones will be able to use more than one AI model. In simple terms, an AI model is the “brain” behind an assistant that answers questions and carries out requests. With the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung says people will be able to choose between tools such as Bixby, Google’s Gemini, and Perplexity.

Samsung describes this as a “choice of agents” with one main entry point where you pick which assistant to use and switch when you want. It is like having several customer service desks in one place, and choosing the one that is best for your task. Samsung says this could help with things like searching for information, completing multi step actions, and coordinating across apps, such as booking a service.

Samsung also said this will run on upgraded hardware, including a customized Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and a stronger NPU (a part of the chip designed to handle AI tasks). The company also pointed to other planned improvements, like Circle to Search being able to recognize multiple objects at once, and tighter connections with other Samsung devices such as Galaxy Buds4 Pro and the Galaxy Book6 laptops.

Why it matters

For most people, this could mean fewer times you have to jump between different apps and assistants to get something done. It also signals that Samsung plans to make AI a standard part of many products, not just phones. Samsung said it aims to bring Galaxy AI to 800 million devices by the end of 2026, up from 400 million the year before.

Source: Financial Times