Samsung's Galaxy S8 is one beauty of a phone but it's still missing one promised feature, the Bixby virtual assistant. This is the case in the US at least, disappointing since Samsung said it would debut on the company's flagship handset.

Launched on April 21, Bixby failed to make an immediate appearance. To explain this absence, the electronics giant clarified that parts of its assistant did actually make it to the S8, such as "Vision, Home and Reminder" and that the main Bixby Voice function will arrive on US versions of the phone "later this spring."

Unfortunately that deadline has come and gone. It might not be astronomically correct according to the Farmers Almanac, but in America summer starts Memorial Day weekend (this weekend just gone). Bixby won't materialize for another few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports, due to the need for additional testing. That puts its launch well into June.

"Bixby Voice benefits from time to further enhance natural language understanding, and we are currently growing our user testing in the US to prepare for launch," a Samsung representative told CNET.

With Google's Assistant, Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri already locked in a heated three-way battle to dominate AI and control your connected home, any delay is costly.