While we still don’t know when we will see the previously announced Samsung Galaxy Home, we now at least have seen the actual model of the Galaxy Home Mini. The smaller version of the Bixby-powered smart speaker is currently on display at the Samsung Developer Conference in San Jose, California. However, we also don’t know yet when this device will be released in the market and whether it will be available ahead of the bigger, original version or it will come later once the original will finally be released.
The Galaxy Home was initially unveiled in October 2018 but for some reason that they have not explained, it hasn’t been released in the market. And while we’re still waiting, the Korean OEM went ahead and revealed the smaller version called, obviously, the Galaxy Home Mini. A couple of months ago, they even started a beta program in their native South Korea so we suspected that this will probably be released earlier than the Galaxy Home.
According to SAM Mobile, Samsung decided to test out the Galaxy Home Mini in a “real-world environment” when they launched the beta program in South Korea. Fans had the chance to sign up and received the speaker before it even hit the market. While other Samsung fans around the world waited for the program to roll out, it looks like they have no plans of having the beta program in any other country, even if there was a model displayed in California.
Since there’s no beta program announced for the Galaxy Home, it probably means it will be released later than the Galaxy Home Mini. Supposedly it would have been released mid-second half of the year. But since we’re almost at the end of 2019 already, we might not even see a shadow of this bigger and more premium smart speaker. Last year, we heard that they were going to release it in the U.S., South Korea, and China first so we’ll watch out for those markets as well.
Samsung is way behind the smart speaker market as compared to Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. This means they have to work double time not just to bring both speakers to consumers but also to have Bixby more widely available through products like these.
