With all the new gadgets and technology introduced in 2016, it could really be said that the closing year has been a truly great one for the tech and gadget community. Given the great things that happened this 2016 for gadget and tech, one can only imagine what is install this coming 2017.

2017 is said to be an exciting year for the smartphone industry. 2017 will mark the 10^th year anniversary of Apple's iPhone and, if the speculations hold true, Apple will be releasing a slew of iPhones which will culminate in the release of its newest flagship phone, the Apple iPhone 8.

With the brewing big reveal from Apple, pundits believe that its closest rival in the smartphone market, Samsung, will not take it lightly. Samsung has just made a series of acquisitions this year which gives rise to numerous speculations as to what the South Korea based tech giant is cooking for its Samsung Galaxy S8.

One of the recent acquisitions of Samsung is Viv, a tech startup that focuses on artificial intelligence and is said to be founded by some of the developers of Siri. This recent acquisition has triggered a slew of speculations as to the intention of Samsung.

Samsung's acquisition of Viv has led to the belief that Samsung will be introducing a new virtual assistant for its Samsung Galaxy S8. The new voice-guided VA will reportedly be called 'Bixby'. The new voice-guided VA will replace the already aging 'S-voice' which is currently used by all of Samsung's smartphones and mobile devices.

The news that Samsung will be introducing a new VA has been dismissed by some experts due to Samsung's current agreement with Google. Google has just introduced its new virtual assistant for Android devices and Samsung's 'Bixby' may appear as a competition for Google.

With the exploding Note 7 fiasco that Samsung had to endure this 2016, the tech company is in need of a win this 2017 to revive the brand's allure to smartphone users. With the recent developments, it seems that Samsung has found its new piece de resistance in Galaxy S8.