Google reportedly wants Samsung phones to highlight Assistant over Bixby

Google reportedly wants Samsung to do a better job at promoting Google services and products - including pushing Google Assistant over Bixby. It's currently negotiating a deal that would give it more prominence on Samsung smartphones, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has a solid track record when it comes to revealing deep-level information about Silicon Valley and the business behind some of the biggest tech companies. It claims Google wants to land a deal that would see Samsung "promote Google’s digital assistant and Play Store" on Samsung devices. Citing details "from a person briefed on the matter", Bloomberg said such a deal would provide Google with "more valuable daily access" to Samsung users.

However, as a consequence, Samsung's own services and products - including the Bixby digital assistant - would be "less integrated" on Samsung phones, like the Galaxy S and Note series. Supposedly, a drop in mobile device demand during the pandemic has Samsung exploring this opportunity as a new source of revenue.

To be clear, Samsung is the biggest phone company in the world. Its phones run Google’s Android operating system with its own software running atop.

Samsung reportedly agreed to scale back its so-called "overlay" in 2014.  But Samsung phones still don't run pure Android. They're loaded with Samsung services - including Bixby and the Galaxy App Store - although Google’s services and the Google Play Store are still available on Samsung’s phones.

We suspect Google isn't happy with this and wants to strike a new deal. So, is a pure Android Samsung phone on the horizon? Not so fast - it's far too early to tell.

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