Samsung’s Galaxy Home smart speaker to launch by April

Last summer after making the announcement, Samsung is all set to release its Bixby Home smart speaker later in the month of April. According to co-CEO DJ Koh, who spoke to CNET today the device, meant to compete with the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod, and Sonos speakers. Initially, Samsung disclosed the Galaxy Home during its Note 9 event back in August but has kept relatively quiet on launch details ever since.

To respond to a user’s voice commands the Galaxy Home is supported by Samsung’s own Bixby virtual assistant, sound performance is tuned by the company’s AKG division. The Home can act as a hub for SmartThings and can control any smart home gadgets compatible with that platform by voice.

Samsung also claims this is “the only AI speaker that intuitively moves a wave of sound directly toward you when you ask it to. So no matter where you are in the room, you’ll find yourself immersed in sound.”

Bixby will need to perform well for the Galaxy Home to make sense as a buy; it’s competing in the same premium space as HomePod and Sonos gear, while the Echo and Google Home can be owned for significantly less money. But Samsung has now spent years and a lot of resources into trying to smarten up its assistant and extend its capabilities.