Samsung Electronics is reportedly near finalizing a significant funding and partnership with U.S.-based AI search startup Perplexity, in accordance with a Bloomberg report citing sources accustomed to the matter. As a part of the deal, Samsung plans to combine Perplexity’s expertise into its upcoming smartphones, together with preloading the startup’s app and assistant and embedding its search options into Samsung’s default internet browser.
The collaboration may additionally lengthen to incorporating Perplexity’s AI into Samsung’s digital assistant, Bixby, probably reshaping the tech large’s AI technique.
The proposed collaboration is predicted to be formally introduced later this yr, with Perplexity’s assistant prone to turn out to be a default choice on Samsung’s Galaxy S26 lineup, which is anticipated to debut within the first half of 2026. Whereas discussions are ongoing and particulars may shift, the mixing would supply customers an alternative choice to Google’s Gemini, which at present powers many options inside Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite.
Past preloading the Perplexity app, Samsung is exploring embedding the startup’s AI-driven search into its native Web browser and integrating choose functionalities into Bixby, its proprietary voice assistant. The businesses are additionally contemplating broader technical collaborations, together with the potential growth of an AI-enhanced working system and functions that join Perplexity’s instruments with different assistants.
Samsung’s curiosity in Perplexity extends past product integration. The South Korean conglomerate is reportedly in superior talks to affix the startup’s upcoming $500 million funding spherical, probably as a number one investor. The spherical, which might worth Perplexity at round $14 billion, is predicted to help the corporate’s fast enlargement throughout gadgets and platforms.
If finalized, the partnership would signify Perplexity’s most important cell collaboration up to now, following its earlier alliance with Motorola. For Samsung, the deal alerts a strategic shift towards diversifying its AI ecosystem by working with rising gamers.
Representatives from each corporations have held conferences in South Korea in current weeks, making appreciable progress towards a remaining settlement. Neither Samsung nor Perplexity has formally commented on the continuing discussions.
Apple has additionally reportedly explored a partnership with Perplexity, contemplating the AI startup as a attainable various to each Google Search and ChatGPT inside its Siri assistant. Throughout a current antitrust trial, Apple’s senior vp of companies, Eddy Cue, acknowledged the corporate’s curiosity, noting that discussions had begun after being impressed by Perplexity’s developments.
For Samsung, the transfer to combine Perplexity mirrors Apple’s broader technique of collaborating with a number of AI suppliers as an alternative of relying on a single associate. Business observers counsel this might assist Samsung scale back reliance on Google’s ecosystem, improve Bixby’s competitiveness, and strengthen its native browser towards Chrome.
