Samsung phones could get an AI-powered search boost soon

When Samsung unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S24 range it also launched a host of AI features including Google's Circle to Search, which enables you to search for something by circling it on screen with your finger or the Galaxy S24 Ultra's S Pen. And it looks like it's about to get a useful free upgrade.

Circle To Search is interesting because it's the only AI feature on Samsung's phone that uses Google's AI rather than Samsung's own. And that means Samsung doesn't need to make its own upgrades: when Google updates the feature, Samsung can simply bring it to its Galaxy phones. And according to Android Authority, Google is about to do that with a new Circle To Search feature that'll enable you to search for audio rather than text or images.

What is Audio Search in Circle To Search?

As the name suggests, the new feature is all about audio. It appears to be a cross between Shazam-style ambient music recognition and the hum to search feature in YouTube Music, so you'll be able to identify music that's playing wherever you happen to be or simply hum or sing a brainworm into your phone's microphone. 

It looks simple enough: simply bring up Circle To Search as normal and then tap on the icon with a musical note to the right of the search box. You'll then be asked to "play, sing or hum a song".

The feature is already in a beta version of the Google app, although it doesn't appear to work just yet: it's a server-based system where your query – in this case, the audio data – is sent to Google for processing, and that part of the system doesn't appear to be online yet. 

However, the phone side of things looks finished in the beta version so it's just a matter of Google turning the servers on and pressing the go button to enable the feature. That means it should be coming to Samsungs (and other phones, such as the new Pixel 9) very soon.