The Samsung Galaxy S21 series now runs on Circle To Search.
After promising budget phone owners a new AI tool last week, Samsung is now rolling out the update to millions of Galaxy users.
Circle to Search, which debuted on the Galaxy S24 in January and played a major role in Samsung’s Galaxy AI marketing, is now rolling out to several devices in Samsung’s budget smartphone lineup. The full list includes the Galaxy A55, A54, A35, and A34. The Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+ are also getting the update.
SamMobile says the Galaxy Quantum 4 will also receive the update. Together with the Galaxy S21, which received the AI tool earlier this year, the site estimates that 25 million phones will be affected by this update.
Samsung had previously stated that 100 million phones would receive Galaxy AI via the release of the One UI 6.1 operating system, so it’s clear that the company is trying to provide as many mobile AI tools as possible. This explains why the Korean company has focused its efforts on distributing Circle to Search rather than other AI tools.
First, Circle to Search doesn’t require powerful hardware like other Galaxy AI skills. It’s essentially a revamped version of Google Lens that works on virtually all Android phones.
Google and Samsung have expanded the feature’s capabilities well beyond drawing circles around images to launch a Google search. It can translate text, scan QR codes, and there’s a homework help component that creates a step-by-step guide to solving math problems (without actually solving them).
Google is expanding Circle to Search’s capabilities even further with a new audio identification feature that appears to be rolling out to some Android users in waves.
A Redditor spotted that when Circle to Search launched, a new icon to identify music tracks appeared next to the translation option. Pixel phones already have a similar feature called Now Playing, which displays a track ID on the device’s lock screen when music is received. However, the new Circle to Search feature lets users actively tell their phones to search for specific songs, potentially replacing third-party apps like Shazam.
I suspect that Google wants to add more AI-powered features to Circle to Search to get its Gemini technology into more hands. It will be interesting to see if Samsung and Google decide to introduce other, less power-intensive features like Live Translate or Chat Assist on older phones in future updates.
