Samsung's Galaxy S8 with rumored AI button might be delayed until April

Samsung could be betting heavily on its as-yet-unseen AI assistant to sell the next generation of Galaxy smartphones.

Citing a report from The Wall Street Journal, the Verge reports that the company is considering adding a dedicated button for the service to next year’s Galaxy S8. "The latest internal prototypes of the premium Galaxy S8 handset include a button on the side edge of the smartphone that would be used to launch a beefed-up virtual assistant," said the WSJ, adding that its sources cautioned that "prototypes aren’t final and could change."

This follows a report from Reuters that the company’s AI assistant will be incorporated not only into Galaxy smartphones, but also the company's home appliances and wearables. Earlier this year, Samsung acquired Viv Labs, a startup founded by the original creators of Apple’s Siri, and it's assumed the new assistant will be based on their technology. The Korean tech giant hasn’t detailed what type of features its new assistant will offer, but says it will be "significantly differentiated" from competitors, and will work with a range of third-party services.

"Developers can attach and upload services to our agent," Samsung executive vice president Rhee Injong said at a briefing. "Even if Samsung doesn't do anything on its own, the more services that get attached the smarter this agent will get, learn more new services, and provide them to end-users with ease."