It’s not exactly a surprise, but today a Samsung executive confirmed that the company is indeed developing its own smart connected speaker, similar to Google Home and the Amazon Echo family of devices. Furthermore, we may not have to wait very long for that speaker to be officially revealed.
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In a chat with CNBC during today’s Galaxy Note 8 press event, DJ Koh, the president of Samsung’s mobile division, confirmed the development of the speaker, and added, “Maybe soon we will announce it.” Details about the speaker, including what its name will be and its price, were not revealed today. Koh also didn’t confirm if the speaker will use Samsung’s Bixby virtual assistant, although we would be surprised if that was not the case. This news from Koh would seem to contradict rumors in July that Samsung was not planning to launch a connected Bixby speaker in the near future.
Samsung will be launching such a product in an industry that’s currently dominated by Amazon’s Echo products, which use its own Alexa digital assistant. Google Home, which launched in late 2016, works with Google Assistant. Recent rumors claim that Google will launch a smaller version of its Home speaker later this year.
In addition, the 800-pound gorilla in the tech world, Apple, has already revealed plans to launch its own Siri-powered speaker, the HomePod. However, it is not scheduled to go on sale until December, and at a premium price of $349. That gives Samsung some time to release its own speaker ahead of the HomePod, and hopefully at a much lower price tag.
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