While we’re still waiting for official word from Samsung as to when their highly anticipated Galaxy Home smart speaker will be coming out of the market. But what will probably happen is that the smaller version may come out before the main one. At least if we base it on the fact that they are opening up beta testing for the Galaxy Home Mini in South Korea. This is still not official confirmation as to when we’ll get either but it may be an indication that it’s near.
Emails have been spotted in South Korea inviting people to be part of a beta program to test out the Galaxy Home Mini. There are no details as to what the difference will be between the Galaxy Home and this other device aside from the fact that it’s probably smaller because of its name. Those who sign up will of course get one of the units which is described as a speaker that can control home appliances and IoT devices through Bixby and SmartThings.
If you signed up for the beta testing, which ends on September 1 at 5PM (South Korean time), you’ll be entered into a sort of lottery. Winners will be announced on September 5 and this beta period will run until October 4th. After that, there are no other dates indicated, including when the Galaxy Home Mini will be available for sale, even in their local market. But based on that, we’ll probably see it later this year.
Since no beta program has been announced for the Galaxy Home, we’re assuming that it will be released later than the Mini. The last news we’ve heard about it, Samsung said it will be launched in the “mid-second half of the year”. Given that we’re already in the -ber months, that gives them just four months to meet this “deadline” if they’re really going to launch it in that time period.
Given that Samsung is way behind their other competitors when it comes to smart speakers, the sooner they release the Galaxy Home Mini or the Galaxy Home, the better. But then again if it’s not working as it should, then maybe they should not risk getting bad reviews and bad user experience.
