So long, secrecy. Samsung appears to have accidentally let the cat out of the bag in terms of its highly anticipated artificial intelligence assistant. While we’ve long suspected that one of the Galaxy S8’s most talked-about features would be named Bixby, it wasn’t until January 9 that we had solid confirmation from the horse’s mouth.
As initially reported by Sammobile, Samsung confirmed a bit early on its website that it will not only have a standalone online payment platform named Samsung Pay Mini, but will also have Bixby help facilitate these payments.
The original image on the Samsung Pay Beta site has since been removed, but screenshots last forever.
While it’s unclear as of yet exactly how Bixby -the AI assistant, will integrate with Samsung Pay Mini, it seems reasonable to assume that it will allow you to make payments via your voice. And the “Mini” version of the payment platform may allow customers to make transactions via Samsung Pay, even if they’re not using a Samsung device. Whereas Samsung Pay has previously been available only on its own phones, the stripped-down version of the app just might be found on other handsets as well.
Of course, all this speculation only serves to build even more buzz around the Galaxy S8. Although Samsung has never officially confirmed that Bixby would actually make its debut on the new flagship phone, it seems safe to make such an assumption.
After all, the S8 will be the next flagship phone to come out of the company (after its extremely ill-fated predecessor, which had a penchant for explosions). So in order to make up for past mistakes, the new Galaxy will need something big — something like Bixby.
To stay up to date on the latest rumors and speculation around the S8, check out our roundup here.
