Samsung's 'News Today' app with support for podcasts and Bixby could be a reality soon

Samsung's next big thing, the Galaxy Note 8, is set for an official introduction on 23 August. The device will take on rivals Apple, Google, and LG with a bigger Infinity display and fancy internals. But, that's not all. If the latest reports are to be believed, the South Korean giant is also working on its own news app "News Today".

As Google and Apple are already cashing on their respective news apps (Google News & Apple News), a similar move from Samsung, which is one of the biggest Android OEMs, seems plausible. The company has been tweaking its UI lately and just like Samsung Pay, another addition into the 'Samsung ecosystem' could do some serious damage to their competitors.

According to SamMobile, News Today will support podcasts, which will allow users to search and subscribe various podcast providers and channels.

The app is also said to include Bixby support, which would allow users to control the app or play a particular podcast using voice commands. From what we see, Samsung could also use this feature as a way to deliver news content with commands like "what's in the news today". It could also be used in the upcoming Bixby-powered speaker for listening podcasts, just like on Google Home and Amazon Echo.

As of now, this is all we have got on the rumoured News Today app. We expect Samsung to release the finished version of the app with Galaxy Note 8 late next month. It remains unclear whether it would replace or supplement the existing Flipboard/UPDAY apps that ship as part of the news section on most Samsung devices.