The Samsung Galaxy S24 pulled the rug from under Bixby’s feet

Although Bixby is available on the Galaxy S24 running One UI 6.1, it’s almost like the virtual assistant sits quietly in the background, watching how Samsung gives Circle to Search all the attention it once had and then some.

You probably noticed how Samsung went all-in on Circle to Search in its marketing material for the Galaxy S24 series. The company even hired plane pilots to draw circles in the skies above Cape Town and paid a million dollars to temporarily redesign the London Underground map to promote the Google-backed feature.

I don’t think Samsung ever went to such an extent to promote Bixby, but sadly, things might be going from bad to worse for Samsung’s digital assistant.

Circle to Search might be Bixby’s silent assassin

Here’s where things took an unexpected turn for me as a Galaxy device user who, over the years, made peace with the fact that Samsung will never let go of Bixby: For Circle to Search to be available for instant summoning through the tap-and-hold gesture, it is required for Galaxy S24 users to choose Google as their default digital assistant.

So, I may have been too hopeful for Bixby, and maybe this turn of events signals the beginning of the end for the in-house Samsung virtual assistant. Or, at least, Samsung may have conceded to Google, and Bixby will take the backseat from now on.

Fortunately, you can still assign Bixby to the side key while keeping the tap-and-hold gesture assigned to Circle to Search. But you can’t do it the other way around. You can’t have Bixby assigned to the gesture or as the default assistant and link Circle to Search to the side key.

In essence, the Google-backed Circle to Search feature was given a higher priority than Bixby. And I’m not sure if it’s for the worse or better. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the Bixby assistant, and perhaps Galaxy phones are better off using Google Assistant (which I’m also not a huge fan of) and other Google-backed AI features.

All in all, it feels strange to me how it’s almost like Samsung’s once-beloved Bixby is now watching from the sideline how Google Assistant is slowly taking its place through Circle to Search.