Information circulating the internet suggests that Samsung will launch a smart speaker in the first half of 2018. It was earlier rumoured that the company was working on a smart speaker to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but the release date of the speaker was not known.
According to a report on Bloomberg, “The gadget will run Bixby, Samsung’s digital assistant that rivals Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana. It will also synchronize with TVs, Galaxy smartphones and other Samsung devices".
Samsung hasn't made any official comment about the Bixby powered speaker. It is expected that just like Apple’s HomePod, Samsung’s speaker will play well with Samsung's smart devices' ecosystem. Samsung is expected to launch the speaker in multiple markets including the US.
Prices for Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo speakers start at Rs 3,000 in India. Google hasn't launched it's Google Home speakers in India yet, while Apple has delayed the release of the HomePod till 2018.
According to Gartner, "voice-activated speakers will become a $3.5 billion market by 2021, up from $720 million in 2016. That’s dwarfed by the smartphone business. However, many homes are likely to have multiple speakers for different rooms, giving tech companies more access points to lock them into their other services.”
Google recently updated its Google Home speaker family with the Google Home Mini and Google Home Max. The Google Home Max is priced at $399 (Rs 22,500 approximately directly converted). The Google Home Max competes with Apple HomePod which is expected to launch soon and will be priced at $349 (Rs 22,379 approx). The Samsung speaker is expected to be priced around $200 (Rs 12,825 approx).