Samsung is adding more languages to Bixby and several Galaxy AI features, and while that’s a welcome update for millions of users outside the English-speaking world, it also highlights just how far behind Samsung’s own assistant still sits compared to the competition. Google’s Gemini supports dozens of languages with far deeper integration. Apple Intelligence is pushing multilingual support aggressively. Bixby hitting 12 languages in 2026 is not a flex, it’s a catch-up move.
As SamMobile reported, Samsung has added Polish, Thai, and Vietnamese to Bixby, bringing its total language count to 12. Separately, four Galaxy AI tools, Call Assist, Interpreter, Note Assist, and Transcript Assist, now include Hungarian and Malay, reaching 24 supported languages total. And Now Nudge, the proactive suggestion feature introduced with the Galaxy S26 series, has added eight new languages in one go: Dutch, Filipino, Gujarati, Hungarian, Malay, Romanian, Swedish, and Turkish, also hitting 24.
The rollout is staggered. Bixby’s new language support starts going out today, while the Galaxy AI feature updates will follow in the coming weeks. Once the update hits your device, you can pull the new language packs directly from the Settings app on supported Galaxy phones and tablets. No separate downloads from an app store, no convoluted setup process.
The more interesting story here is what this expansion signals about Samsung’s strategy. Since launching Galaxy AI in 2024, the company has been iterating steadily, adding features and broadening reach with each major update cycle. That’s a reasonable approach for a company running AI across hundreds of millions of devices globally. But Samsung is threading a needle, trying to make Galaxy AI feel native and useful while also leaning on Google’s Gemini as the actual heavy-lifting AI layer on its Android phones. Bixby handles device-level commands; Gemini handles the conversational, generative stuff. That split architecture creates confusion for users and limits how useful Bixby actually feels in day-to-day use.
Still, the language expansion for tools like Interpreter and Transcript Assist matters in a real-world sense. These aren’t gimmick features. Live translation during phone calls and face-to-face conversations is genuinely useful for multilingual households, international business users, and travelers. Adding Hungarian and Malay to that mix extends the practical value of Galaxy AI to communities that have been waiting for support. Filipino and Gujarati showing up in Now Nudge tells you Samsung is paying attention to Southeast Asia and South Asia, regions where its mid-range and flagship lines are commercially important.
The feature set being expanded includes:
- Bixby voice assistant: now supports Polish, Thai, and Vietnamese (12 languages total)
- Call Assist, Interpreter, Note Assist, Transcript Assist: added Hungarian and Malay (24 languages total)
- Now Nudge: added Dutch, Filipino, Gujarati, Hungarian, Malay, Romanian, Swedish, and Turkish (24 languages total)
For developers and founders building on Samsung’s ecosystem or evaluating device-level AI for regional markets, this update is worth tracking. Galaxy AI’s expanding language base makes it a more credible platform for localized applications, particularly around voice and transcription. But if you’re waiting for Bixby to compete with Gemini or even Siri on raw capability, that’s a different conversation entirely, and the answer is not yet.
