Galaxy S8's Bixby features headed to Germany in Q4 2017

Bixby will be fully functional in Germany around the time we're expecting the Galaxy Note 8.

The full feature set of Bixby, Samsung's AI assistant feature for the Galaxy S8, will only be available in U.S. English and Korean at launch, with other regions having to wait it out. And now we have a rough idea of just how long that might take.

According to an entry on Samsung's German support site, first spotted by GalaxyClub, Germans can expect a fully functional Bixby experience by... Q4 2017.

As in October, at the earliest.

Given the complexity of the features — and the fact that not even UK English will be supported at launch — it's not entirely surprising that Bixby voice is going to take a while to port to additional languages. But still, six months from the launch of the GS8 is a considerable wait.

By that time, we'll likely be in the thick of the Galaxy Note 8 launch. Later in the year, a new multilingual Bixby might go up against an improved Google Assistant on this year's Pixel phones, as well as a smarter Siri on the iPhone 8.

Bixby is clearly a long term play for Samsung. The feature is huge in scope, and won't just be limited to phones — in time, expect to see it in smart appliances, TVs and wearables. But it's also clear it's going to take months, if not years for Bixby's full potential to be realized.