Galaxy Book Windows 11 update highlights ties with Samsung phones

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

With the launch of Windows 11, a few PC makers have raised their hands to call attention to new PCs that will be shipping with Microsoft's latest OS out of the box. Other OEMs, however, might not have the same resources to push out completely new laptops and desktops and are content just to announce that existing products will be eligible for the free upgrade. Of course, Samsung is also taking the opportunity to remind its customers that they can already enjoy integration with their mobile phones even before Windows 11 gets that promised native support for Android apps.

Samsung has enjoyed some preferential treatment from Microsoft for a few years now, a partnership that has resulted in some admittedly useful features if you're the type who always needs your phone near your Windows computer. While Windows 11 will sort of try to make that redundant by letting you run Android apps directly, it might still be a lot more convenient to access your phone from the desktop without even touching your phone. That is, of course, if your phone happens to be a recent Samsung Galaxy phone.

Samsung's Windows 11 upgrade announcement unsurprisingly focuses more on features that are already available on Windows 10. Link to Windows, for example, not only lets you access phone notifications and messages from Windows, but it also lets you run Android apps from the desktop or laptop. The key difference with what Windows 11 will have soon is that you're running the apps that are already installed and set up on your phone, more like remote phone access than native support for Android apps.

The company is also timing the Windows 11 launch with a few upgrades and new features of its own. Live Wallpaper and Dynamic Wallpaper support are coming from Galaxy phones to Galaxy Books, for example. For those truly immersed in Samsung's ecosystem, the biggest news might be the official availability of Bixby on Windows, bringing voice control of your smart home to your Samsung laptop.

Bixby on Windows is compatible only with the Galaxy Book, Galaxy Book Odyssey, Galaxy Book Go, Galaxy Book Pro 360, and Galaxy Book Pro. The Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G is noted to be the first Galaxy Book that will start shipping with Windows 11 out of the box. The rest will have to go through the process of upgrading to Windows 11 once the update becomes available.