Samsung Galaxy S8 latest: New AI assistant Bixby to speak eight languages

That pushes it in front of Google's virtual helper but leaves it trailing behind Apple's Siri

Bixby is expected to be capable of recognising text and real-world objects through the Galaxy S8’s camera (REUTERS/Albert Gea)

New details about Bixby, the Samsung Galaxy S8’s AI assistant, have emerged ahead of the phone’s unveiling next month.

The virtual helper will support up to eight languages at launch, including English, Korean and Chinese, according to SamMobile.

That pushes it out in front of Google Assistant, which supports English and German on the Pixel phone, as well as Hindi, Japanese and Portuguese through the controversial Allo messaging app.

However, both trail some way behind Apple’s Siri, which supports over 20 different languages.

Bixby, which is yet to be announced, is expected to be capable of recognising real-world objects through the Galaxy S8’s camera and tracking them down online, allowing users to make quick purchases.

It’s also said to be able to use optical character recognition to process any text within the phone’s camera frame, presumably to help users translate phrases and save time while copying and pasting information.

Samsung will not launch its new flagship at Mobile World Congress later this month, as many of its main smartphone rivals plan to, because of the fallout surrounding the disastrous Galaxy Note 7.

Instead, the South Korean company is set to unveil the Galaxy S8 towards the end of March, ahead of a late April release.

However, it recently released the Samsung Galaxy A5, a gorgeous, waterproof handset that costs less than £400.