Circle Two Search is one of several AI capabilities Samsung has announced alongside the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. It was developed in collaboration with Google, and the day after Samsung’s announcement, Google actually unveiled it for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro (and it’s been rolling out ever since).
If you thought Circle2 Search would continue to expand to include Android smartphones from other manufacturers, you’d be disappointed. According to Samsung’s own statement, Circle 2 Search will only be available on Google and Samsung handsets until at least October.
This is the correct language directly from Samsung’s Dutch arm:
There are no current plans to develop Circle 2 Search for use on other companies’ Android smartphones, but it may be available on them as early as October 5, 2024.
This is a serious case of unfair gatekeeping and a huge bummer. We want to know if Google and Samsung believe consumers will buy a Pixel 8 or S24 just for this feature, and if not, what’s the point?
It just seems a bit vindictive toward an ecosystem — the Android ecosystem — that was once hailed as being far more open than Apple’s closed community. In any case, doors are starting to appear in the Android universe as well.
This is not the first time either; Wear OS updates are being rolled out to specific wearables by Google and Samsung this way. We are at a loss as to why this behavior persists. Surely there must be a reason for this, given that it’s bound to anger Google’s other Android device manufacturer partners? How you are feeling?