Samsung is blowing open its Galaxy AI ecosystem with a move that signals the smartphone wars just entered a new phase. The company announced it's integrating Perplexity as an additional AI agent across its upcoming flagship devices, accessible via a dedicated 'Hey Plex' wake phrase. It's a direct challenge to Apple's Siri-only approach and Google's Gemini dominance, betting that the 80% of users who now juggle multiple AI agents want that same flexibility baked into their phones.
Samsung just made its boldest AI bet yet, and it's not about building a better assistant - it's about letting users pick their own. The company announced it's weaving Perplexity directly into Galaxy AI's operating system, giving users the option to summon a different AI agent depending on what they're trying to accomplish. Say 'Hey Plex' and you're talking to Perplexity. Hold the side button and you get a quick-access menu. It's a fundamentally different approach than what Apple or Google are doing, and it arrives at exactly the moment user behavior is demanding it.
The numbers tell the story. Samsung's internal research shows nearly 8 in 10 people now bounce between multiple AI agents throughout their day. One for search, another for creative work, maybe a third for specific tasks. But until now, doing that on your phone meant jumping between apps, copying and pasting, losing context every time you switched. Galaxy AI is trying to eliminate that friction by bringing multiple agents into the same framework-level integration that typically only the default assistant gets.
'We've been committed to building an open and inclusive integrated AI ecosystem that gives users more choice, flexibility and control to get complex tasks done quickly and easily,' Won-Joon Choi, Samsung's President and COO of Mobile eXperience, said in the announcement. 'Galaxy AI acts as an orchestrator, bringing together different forms of AI into a single, natural, cohesive experience.' That orchestrator role is key - Samsung isn't just slapping apps on a homescreen, it's letting these agents work at the system level.
