Samsung is working on its own smart speaker, powered by its newly built digital voice-assistant Bixby, introduced with Galaxy S8 smartphone, to compete against Amazon’s Echo, Google Home and Apple’s HomePod, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The speaker has been code-named "Vega" and is still in early stage of development, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. According to the Journal, Samsung is yet to decide the speaker’s features and specification, along with a tentative release date.
The slow works on Bixby-powered smart speaker is being traced back to delay in Bixby’s roll out on the Galaxy S8 smartphone. The voice-assistant was supposed to feature with the launch of Galaxy S8, however, it was postponed twice from the decided dates as it struggled to understand English language. It was last month, when Samsung made an early access to Bixby’s voice feature to select Galaxy S8 and S8+ customers in the US.
This isn't for the first time that reports about Samsung’s smart speaker have surfaced. Earlier a report by The Korean Herald also claimed that Samsung is building a smart speaker, equipped with its own voice-assistant Bixby. A new patent, which looked like a smart speaker by the Korean tech giant, was also highlighted in reports. The patent suggested a standalone audio device featuring a screen mounted on a tripod.
However, the report by WSJ hints that Bixby is unlikely to roll out fully until second half of July, further indicating that the "Vega" smart speaker cannot be expected to be unveiled in the market anytime soon.
