Samsung's smart home speaker powered by their smart assistant Bixby may be coming in the first half of 2018.
According to Bloomberg, Samsung Electronics Co. is planning to reveal their first ever smart speaker in the first half of 2018. The yet unnamed smart speaker by Samsung will be powered by their digital smart assistant, Bixby. Samsung's smart speaker will reportedly be focusing strongly on audio quality and the organization and management of connected smart home appliances such as lightings and even door locks.
With Bixby, Samsung will officially start contending with major digital assistants, such as Amazon's "Alexa", Apple's "Siri", and the Google Assistant. The smart speaker Bixby will also synchronize with smart Samsung TVs, Samsung smartphones, and other Samsung devices.
With the Korean tech giant buying the technology company "SmartThings" in 2014, the smart speaker may even let consumers control the temperature inside their homes, as well as keeping their food fresh. The sky is the limit for this smart speaker, as Samsung has a wide variety of products in which they envisioned as an entire ecosystem, reports CNET.
Samsung also plans on selling the device not just in the U.S., but in multiple markets as well, including Europe and India. The Korean tech giant is planning on selling the smart speaker for $200. This will cost $100 more than the Amazon Echo (retails at $100) and $150 less than Apple's HomePod ($350), which is also scheduled to be released in 2018.
Samsung may have arrived late to the "smart home" market Amazon has started, and it may not even gain much from producing their smart speakers, but Bixby's purpose as smart voice assistant and a catalyst for various services will be important for the company as the competition for human-computer interaction grows bigger every year.
Samsung may still change their release plans for the smart speaker and may even increase the price as well as the tech giant is still improving the device.
