Seoul, Samsung will end supporting Bixby Voice assistant on Android smartphones that are running older than Pie, which means Nougat and Oreo operating systems (OS), starting January 1.
The smartphones in question include last year’s Galaxy S9 and S9+, Galaxy S8, S8+ and S8 Active, Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy A9 2018.
This move is meant to nudge users toward what’s referred to as Bixby 2.0. Unveiled with the Galaxy Note 9 last year, it brought a new interface for Bixby Voice in addition to many improvements. The improved Bixby is also better at processing natural language, Sam Mobile reported on Tuesday.
Over the coming weeks, an official announcement from the handset maker may be expected.