Google Phone has always felt like two different apps. On Pixels, it gets the good stuff. On everything else, it’s bare bones. One of the better Pixel-only perks is Fraud Protection, a real-time scam alert system that warns you when a call looks sketchy. That exclusivity might be ending.
Code spotted in a recent Google Phone update hints that Samsung’s Galaxy S26 could be the first non-Pixel to get the feature. The evidence comes from model numbers buried in a section of the app tied to Fraud Protection’s Gemini Nano-powered version, the newer AI-driven form that runs on Pixel 9 and later devices.
What makes this interesting is what it implies. Samsung has used its own Phone app for years. But in 2024, the company quietly ditched its messaging app in favor of Google Messages. Could the same thing happen here?
The upside for Samsung isn’t as obvious. Messages made sense because of RCS. But Phone doesn’t unlock anything game-changing unless Google is sweetening the deal with features like Fraud Protection. And if Samsung is considering the switch, it would likely preload Google Phone as the default dialer, not just make it available for manual download.
Nothing is confirmed. Neither company has said a word. But the Galaxy S26 launch is close, and this wouldn’t be the first time Google used feature exclusivity to pull hardware partners closer into its ecosystem.
The real question is whether users will care. Fraud Protection is useful, but it’s not a headline feature. Still, in a world where scam calls are relentless, even a quiet upgrade might be worth more than it seems.
