Samsung Quietly Leaves Bixby Out of the First One UI 8.5 Beta

Earlier, we saw the leaked changelog for the One UI 8.5 beta. It mentioned several new UI changes and also highlighted new Bixby upgrades coming with the beta. However, many of these Bixby features are missing in the official One UI 8.5 changelog.

Leaked Bixby features seem to be missing from the first One UI 8.5 beta update in the UK

Samsung has rolled out the One UI 8.5 beta for the Galaxy S25 series. The update is now live in Korea, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The leaked changelog was mostly accurate and matches the official one in terms of design changes, new features, and system improvements. However the Bixby related changes do not appear in the UK changelog, as spotted by Android Authority. They were clearly listed in the leaked version, as you can see below.

Smarter device control: Talk to Bixby in your own words. Bixby is now better at finding the setting or feature you need, even if you don’t use exact commands or feature names. Just say what you need and let Bixby do the rest.
Ask anything, anytime: Whether you need a quick answer or detailed information, just ask Bixby for an instant response. There’s no need to spend time on multiple searches or switching between apps.
Conversation history: Looking back at past conversations with Bixby is easier than ever. You can now access your conversation history from the side panel in the Bixby app.

Earlier this year, with the launch of the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung started giving more importance to Google’s Gemini instead of Bixby. As a result of this shift, Samsung may release these Bixby upgrades in later beta updates for the S25 series. Another possibility is that Samsung wants to reserve these features for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. They might also make them limited to specific regions, such as Korea. It could also be that the features faced bugs or performance issues. Therefore, Samsung decided not to include them in the first beta to avoid delays.

Another potential reason is that the features may already be included in the update but were not mentioned in the official changelog. Recent reports also suggest that Samsung is testing a hybrid assistant setup in which Bixby handles basic tasks while Perplexity supports more complex queries, similar to how Apple uses ChatGPT for certain requests. Samsung may still be finalising this approach, which could explain why the upgraded Bixby features are missing from the first beta release.