Samsung's Bixby-powered HomePod competitor to debut in first half of 2018, report says
According to a report on Thursday, Samsung's smart home speaker is expected to debut in the first half of 2018 with support for the firm's Bixby virtual assistant, setting the device up for direct competition with Apple's delayed HomePod.
Apple's HomePod.
After industry rumblings earlier this year, Samsung in August confirmed intent to enter the smart home speaker fray with its own branded solution. At the time, mobile president D.J. Koh offered few details beyond comments that the device would arrive "soon."
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports Samsung is working to release the voice-controlled speaker in the first half of 2018.
The company is said to be testing a prototype speaker that sits somewhere between Amazon's Echo and the HomePod. Final versions of the device could come in different colors, the report said. Like HomePod, Samsung's speaker does not include a touchscreen, but instead features a visual feedback system comprised of lights located on top of its chassis.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Samsung is said to be focusing on audio quality and methods of managing connected home appliances, including those supporting Samsung's SmartThings platform. Apple emphasized those same features when it announced HomePod this summer.
Announcing HomePod onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller called it a "breakthrough home speaker," touting the product's superior audio fidelity and integrated HomeKit support.
Again mirroring current industry trends, Samsung is integrating its virtual assistant, Bixby, into its smart speaker offering. Amazon was first to popularize in-home assistants with Alexa-enabled Echo products, followed by Google and its line of Google Home gadgets. Apple is following suit by delivering Siri compatibility to HomePod users.
Samsung plans to make its as-yet-unnamed speaker available in multiple markets, potentially including the U.S. The unit could cost around $200, putting it well below HomePod's $349 price tag.
Apple was initially scheduled to release HomePod in December, but revised those plans in November. Without specifying a reason for the delay, the company pushed back the launch of its audio accessory into "early 2018."
Apple's HomePod.
After industry rumblings earlier this year, Samsung in August confirmed intent to enter the smart home speaker fray with its own branded solution. At the time, mobile president D.J. Koh offered few details beyond comments that the device would arrive "soon."
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports Samsung is working to release the voice-controlled speaker in the first half of 2018.
The company is said to be testing a prototype speaker that sits somewhere between Amazon's Echo and the HomePod. Final versions of the device could come in different colors, the report said. Like HomePod, Samsung's speaker does not include a touchscreen, but instead features a visual feedback system comprised of lights located on top of its chassis.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Samsung is said to be focusing on audio quality and methods of managing connected home appliances, including those supporting Samsung's SmartThings platform. Apple emphasized those same features when it announced HomePod this summer.
Announcing HomePod onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller called it a "breakthrough home speaker," touting the product's superior audio fidelity and integrated HomeKit support.
Again mirroring current industry trends, Samsung is integrating its virtual assistant, Bixby, into its smart speaker offering. Amazon was first to popularize in-home assistants with Alexa-enabled Echo products, followed by Google and its line of Google Home gadgets. Apple is following suit by delivering Siri compatibility to HomePod users.
Samsung plans to make its as-yet-unnamed speaker available in multiple markets, potentially including the U.S. The unit could cost around $200, putting it well below HomePod's $349 price tag.
Apple was initially scheduled to release HomePod in December, but revised those plans in November. Without specifying a reason for the delay, the company pushed back the launch of its audio accessory into "early 2018."
Comments
Despite Samsung buying Harman International, and having access to IP from companies with a lot of experience in professional sound reinforcement (and extensive knowledge in things like beam forming and other processing techniques), that we won’t see anything but a conventional speaker with an assistant tacked in.
I think it is technically accurate to call it a “touch screen”.
Consider:
It is a low resolution display 272x340. So you say it ‘just has lights on top’ but there are no less than 92,480 LEDs. That’s a display albeit a rudimentary one.
Plus it IS touch sensitive.
From Apple’s website:
Tap the top of HomePod to play, pause, or adjust the volume. The top also shows you when Siri is listening, with an LED waveform that animates with your every word.
"The speaker uses four 40mm drivers to pump out sounds in 360-degrees...touch-sensitive button on top so you can control your music with gestures....Amazon Echo-like voice control... Five beam forming microphones... two speakers can be linked to make a stereo pair. You'll of course be able to pipe music to the Whyd speaker from a number of sources, including WiFi, Bluetooth, GoogleCast and AirPlay as well as streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Sound Cloud, Tidal and Google Play."
Perhaps we can worry a bit less now about one company's product resembling another?
https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/18/whyd-wireless-speakers/
“LOL iPhone looks so much like Prada so maybe we can worry less about Samsung blatant copying of iPhone now”.
I-_-I_O_T.
360 degree speaker enclosures are of necessity going to have some similarities, correct? Make it a smart speaker and the enclosure design choices are even more limited. Google designing their Home product line as they did shows effort at avoiding mimickry but even there some exterior features will be familiar to other devices from other companies.
This has nothing to do with Samsung who is a main competitor AND a blatant copier (Apple products & many other companies’) so yes, we can worry about Samsung copying Apple’s HomePod. It has nothing to do with each other.
Disclaimer though, I don’t think this Samsung speakers will look anything like Apple’s.
The HomePod looks like a Mac Pro. So it at least has that distinction.
And yes, Whyd's CEO is flattered that Apple found good reasons to create a speaker that so closely resembles theirs as it validates their own choices.
Old Samsung speaker design:
Old Harmon speaker design:
Of course, Bixby is dreadful, so unless they've made some major improvements there, I doubt it will be able to compete with Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Apple.