Samsung takes on Apple's Siri: Galaxy S8 to launch with dedicated Bixby button

Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri is here. On Monday (20 March) the company unveiled its new artificial intelligence assistant called Bixby, ahead of the launch of its next-gen Galaxy S flagship in New York on 29 March.

Prior to the unveiling the company confirmed that it would reveal Bixby along with the Galaxy S8, and there will be a physical button on the phone to launch the assistant.

The company said the new button would remove confusion over how to activate the voice interface. Users will be able to perform tasks like searching for a contact, making calls, unlocking the phone and searching for an app by just pressing the Bixby button once and saying a command.

When launched, the S8 will come with preinstalled applications that are Bixby-enabled. Samsung will add more apps to the device after release and will release a third-party developer toolkit for creating Bixby-enabled apps.

Bixby will eventually makes its way to Samsung appliances such as smart TVs and even air conditioners. Samsung's Bixby is an upgraded version of S Voice which made its debut on Galaxy S3.