Samsung to launch its own Bixby-powered smart home speaker: Report

With Apple recently announcing the Siri-powered smart speaker called HomePod, Samsung seems to be keen on joining in on the action too. According to a report by The Korea Herald, the company is working on a new smart home speaker powered by the company’s Bixby voice assistant, which is currently seen on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the S8+.

The details on this speaker are very scarce right now, but we have enough to go with given what we’ve seen from competitors. Amazon started the trend with the Amazon Echo, with the Google Home following shortly. Apple joined the fray earlier this week, and it’s only natural for Samsung to try its hand out as well.

Bixby, the default voice assistant on Samsung flagships, is slightly lacking compared to its rivals in the industry. Perhaps Samsung can make some changes to Bixby before bringing these smart speakers to the market. 

Harman Kardon, one of Samsung’s subsidiaries, launched a smart speaker in accordance with Microsoft, known as the Invoke. This speaker will run Cortana by default, thus marking Microsoft’s entry into the fray. We are yet to ascertain if Samsung will team up with Harman Kardon for its Bixby powered smart speakers. 

All of this is purely conjecture at this point, so we can’t say anything with certainty. But given what we’ve seen from the industry so far, it wouldn’t surprise us to see a Samsung branded smart speaker with Bixby on board.