Samsung Galaxy S21 series could come with Google Discover pane on the homescreen

Samsung is less than a month from revealing the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S21 range. It does appear, however it appears that Google’s recent push to bring the South Korean firm’s interface into line with other Android vendors has been successful. As spotted in a tweet and first reported at Android Police, it seems that the Google Explore screen will be included in the stock One UI 3.1 home screen of the device. It notes that this is a T-Mobile branded device, which could mean its a bespoke arrangement with that carrier, but we’ve known since the summer that Samsung and Google have been in discussion about giving Google Assistant more prominence over Bixby. This could suggest that Google won out.

Galaxy S21 + charming bezel
from Random stuff 2 leak video pic.twitter.com/2MBSqz8gTn

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 11, 2020

It’s not even the first time that the two have had words over this type of thing. Touchwiz, the predecessor of One UI, had diverged significantly from stock Android, way back with the Samsung Galaxy SII and was forcibly asked by Google to reign it in with future models.

It’s understood that Google Discover will be present in the Samsung Galaxy S21 range, as an option. Users can choose to use it, or switch to Samsung Free, the successor to Samsung Daily, which is powered by Bixby.

The news will do something to cure the frustration of loyal Samsung users who would prefer to use Google Assistant, over the less-powerful but native Bixby. Meanwhile, as users of previous-generation devices start to receive Samsung One UI 3.0 updates, it’s fairly likely that we’ll see One UI 3.1 arriving towards the end of Q2 2021, presumably with this change aboard. Samsung isn’t alone in making the move back towards stock Android. At around the same time that discussions with Google were taking place, OnePlus code teardowns showed that it will add a toggle between Google Discover and OnePlus shelf in a future build.

The post Samsung Galaxy S21 series could come with Google Discover pane on the homescreen appeared first on xda-developers.

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