Bixby speaker under works

Samsung is working on a smart speaker powered by its newly built digital voice-assistant Bixby, introduced with Galaxy S8 smartphone. It is expected to compete with the Amazon Echo, the Google Home and Apple’s newly unveiled HomePod, reported The Wall Street Journal.

According to the Journal, the speaker has been code-named ‘Vega’ and is still in the early stage of development. Samsung is yet to decide the speaker’s features and specifications, 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 voiceassistant was supposed to feature with the launch of Galaxy S8, however, it was postponed twice from the announced dates as it

struggled to understand the English language. It was last month when Samsung made an early access available to Bixby’s voice feature to select Galaxy S8 and S8+ customers in the US.

This isn’t 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 Samsung patent, which looked like a smart speaker, was also highlighted in reports. The patent suggested a standalone audio device

featuring a screen mounted on a tripod.

The report by The Wall Street Journal hints that Bixby is unlikely to roll out fully until second half of July this year, further indicating that the ‘Vega’ smart speaker cannot be expected to be unveiled in the market anytime soon.