On June 1, 2025, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Samsung was in talks with AI search company Perplexity on a wide-ranging deal spanning an investment, app preloads, and assistant integration, with both sides hoping to announce something as early as this year. TechCrunch and the South China Morning Post followed on June 2, turning the weekend exclusive into the story everyone used to redraw the mobile AI map.
The reason it matters: it could redraw what ships as default on phones. Samsung is the world’s largest Android vendor by shipments, and its default browser and assistant have long been Google territory. If Perplexity actually lands inside Galaxy devices, AI search would, for the first time, be challenging Google’s distribution advantage from a system-level position.
The deal’s four layers: funding, preload, browser, Bixby
According to Bloomberg, the potential arrangement has four layers. First, Samsung is expected to be one of the biggest investors in Perplexity’s new funding round. Second, Samsung has considered preloading Perplexity’s app and assistant on upcoming devices. Third, Samsung’s default browser would gain Perplexity-powered search features. Fourth, the companies have discussed integrating Perplexity technology into Samsung’s Bixby assistant. The report cautioned that none of these arrangements is finalized, and neither Samsung nor Perplexity commented. In other words, this is the nearly-signed stage: any single layer could change or shrink before ink meets paper. The layers build on each other: the investment aligns incentives, the preload buys the entry point, and the browser and Bixby work put Perplexity into daily habits rather than occasional app opens.
Perplexity’s $14 billion valuation and the raise
Running parallel to the deal talks is Perplexity’s fundraising. Bloomberg reported that Perplexity was in advanced talks to raise $500 million at a $14 billion valuation. TechCrunch noted the round had already been reported by Bloomberg in May 2025, which suggests the negotiations had been running for a while. Funding and strategic partnership advancing together is no surprise: for Samsung, becoming a major shareholder secures a tighter bond with the technology and product roadmap than a licensing contract alone; for Perplexity, capital and a default entry point on the world’s largest Android brand are worth more than the valuation figure itself.
What it means for Google and Gemini
Samsung and Google are deeply tied on mobile AI, with Galaxy phones leaning on Gemini for many AI features. The SCMP report noted that discussions included making Perplexity a default assistant option on the Galaxy S26 line expected in the first half of 2026, though details are not final. For Google, that is not immediate displacement, but it is a loosening of the default position: once AI search secures a system-level entry point on Galaxy, traditional search distribution has its first large-scale alternative. TechCrunch also recalled similar moves elsewhere: Apple had explored adding Perplexity to Safari, and Motorola announced a preload partnership in April 2025, showing that phone makers negotiating with AI search companies was already an active pattern.
Bixby’s shot at a comeback
Within Samsung’s assistant lineup, Bixby has long lived in the shadow of Google’s assistant and Galaxy AI with limited mindshare. Wiring Perplexity’s search and answer-generation capabilities into Bixby would give the assistant the piece it lacks most: real-time answers with sources. For Perplexity, this is deeper distribution than browser search, effectively becoming the back end of voice interaction on the phone, one spoken question away from every user. Each side gets what it lacks, which elevates this from an investment story to a turning point in the assistant wars.
Timing and what to watch
Bloomberg’s sources said the companies hope to announce a deal as early as this year. Three things are worth tracking: the size of Samsung’s investment and whether the final valuation lands at $14 billion; the form Perplexity’s presence takes in Galaxy’s default experience, whether as a full assistant, a browser search option, or both; and how Google responds, including whether it adjusts the AI licensing and revenue-sharing terms of its Samsung relationship. Looking back from 2026, the June 2025 report marks the moment AI search moved from the app layer into the phone’s system layer, and the starting point of the flagship default-assistant contest that followed. Either way, the rumors alone changed what people imagined a phone’s default AI could be.
Sources
- SCMP (Bloomberg): Samsung nears wide-ranging deal with Perplexity for AI features
- TechCrunch: Samsung may incorporate Perplexity’s AI tech in its phones
AI-assisted summary compiled from the sources above, reviewed by a human before publishing.