Samsung to Discontinue News App and Microsoft Pulls Copilot From Smart TVs

Samsung has announced that its built-in news application on Galaxy smartphones and tablets will officially shut down on December 21, 2026, at 00:00 UTC. The upcoming discontinuation will remove the dedicated app, associated widgets, and the leftmost home screen media feed that users have relied upon for daily updates, sports scores, and financial news.

The notice of the service termination first appeared within the application in India and South Korea, as reported by Asif Iqbal Shaik, Senior Editor at SamMobile. Although the warning surfaced initially in those specific markets, the global shutdown is expected to affect users across other regions as well, even without separate regional notifications.

When the service concludes, the company will permanently delete all associated user data, profiles, and personalization settings. This marks the end of a lineage that began with Bixby Home in 2017, followed by Samsung Daily in 2019, Samsung Free in 2020, and finally Samsung News upon its launch in 2023. Samsung has not yet announced a direct replacement for the feed.

This hardware ecosystem trimming coincides with broader changes in the consumer technology sector regarding smart devices. Alongside Samsung streamlining its overlapping services—which recently included ending the Daily+ feature on its smart monitors and TVs—Microsoft has decided to scale back its artificial intelligence ambitions in the living room.

Microsoft confirmed that its Copilot AI assistant will be removed from LG and Samsung smart televisions on December 1, 2026. The termination arrives less than two years after the initial integration was announced, with Microsoft updating its official support page to reflect the upcoming deadline while noting that the assistant will remain accessible on computers, mobile devices, and web browsers.

The television integration first drew public attention when Windows Central's Zac Bowden spotted an on-screen notification titled "Notice of Microsoft Copilot Service Termination" on an LG webOS television. The feature, which debuted on compatible televisions in 2025, was designed to provide conversational assistance, movie recommendations, and answers regarding on-screen content.

The television rollout previously met with consumer resistance. LG faced criticism in December 2025 after a software update automatically added a permanent Copilot shortcut to webOS that users could not easily remove. LG subsequently updated the software to allow removal, clarifying that the feature functioned as a browser shortcut instead of a native application.

While Microsoft has not provided a specific rationale for withdrawing Copilot from television sets, the shift aligns with the company refocusing its artificial intelligence resources toward business and productivity software. As both Samsung and Microsoft trim these under-the-hood and living room integrations, consumers will see a simplification of their device interfaces moving toward the end of 2026.