[Yonhap Photo]
Samsung Electronics has added Chinese to the list of languages supported by its AI assistant "Bixby" in an effort to win over Chinese consumers who have favored American rival Apple going ahead with a similar service launched in 2012.
Samsung said Tuesday that the language support was updated to enable users of Galaxy S8 and Note 8 to communicate with their smartphones just by speaking in Chinese. Previously, Bixby was able to understand and speak just Korean and English.
The update was to be done in May, but it took longer than expected because of technical issues regarding interactive communications between Bixby-supported smartphones and other Samsung home appliances. Apple's AI assistant Siri started supporting Chinese in 2012.
Samsung and Apple have competed in the global smartphone market. But Samsung's share in China's smartphone market is expected to fall from about two percent in the third quarter of this year to less than 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter, according to American market analyst group Strategic Analytics. Apple's is predicted to grow from 7.2 percent to 10.7 percent.
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