Perplexity is an AI assistant born in 2022, halfway between a search engine and a chatbot. You ask it a question, it responds by relying on several artificial intelligence models, such as those from OpenAI or Anthropic. And it doesn't want to stay in the shadows.
Perplexity is coming to the next Razr
The young American startup will soon take an important step: it has signed an agreement with Motorola to be pre-installed on the brand's future smartphones, including the new foldable Razr. This partnership includes a custom interface for Motorola devices, and the brand plans to highlight Perplexity in its communications. In short: Motorola really wants you to try it.
The assistant will be offered as an alternative to Google's Gemini, which already features on Motorola phones. For Perplexity, it's a nice showcase—even if Motorola doesn't have a huge presence in the market, the brand occupies a niche in the foldable market.
But Perplexity doesn't plan to stop there. According to Bloomberg, discussions are underway with Samsung, the global smartphone heavyweight. Negotiations are still in the early stages, but several options are on the table: offering Perplexity as the default assistant, pre-installing its app, or even highlighting it in the Galaxy Store.
It won't be easy, as Samsung already works closely with Google. Gemini is the default assistant, and the search engine is also provided by Google. But there is a precedent: in 2023, Samsung's investment fund (called NEXT) already invested in Perplexity. And a new investment could follow.
The startup is looking to raise between $500 million and $1 billion. If the deal goes through, its valuation could climb to $18 billion. Perplexity isn't just targeting the United States. In Europe, a partnership with Deutsche Telekom has already been signed for a future AI-centric phone. The idea is to allow the assistant to manage tasks without using the usual apps, such as booking a flight.
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