What you need to know
- An announcement was posted on Samsung's Korean website earlier today, revealing the Galaxy Home Mini would go on sale for 99,00 KRW (approx. $83 USD) starting February 12.
- There was no mention of a release date for the U.S., and the announcement has since been removed.
- The Galaxy Home Mini is Samsung's Bixby-enabled smart speaker meant to compete with Amazon's Echo Dot and Google's Nest Mini.
Samsung first announced it was jumping into the smart speaker game back in August of 2018 when it unveiled the Galaxy Home speaker. Here it is nearly two years later, and we've yet to see the Bixby-enabled smart speaker launch. Furthermore, the Galaxy Home Mini that was announced in 2019 has yet to go on sale either.
Back in October of 2019, we got a glimmer of hope when the Galaxy Home Mini made an appearance at Samsung's annual Developer Conference. Unfortunately, the company didn't mention a price or when the speaker might officially launch.
Fast forward to today when an announcement appeared on Samsung's Korean website revealing the Galaxy Home Mini will go on sale beginning February 12 for 99,00 KRW, or around $83 USD. The announcement has since been removed, meaning someone probably jumped the gun and put it up early.
So far, what we know about the Galaxy Home Mini is limited. Design-wise, it will look very similar in size and shape to Amazon's Echo Dot and Google's Nest Mini. Considering Samsung owns AKG, it's no surprise that the Galaxy Home Mini will be using speakers made by or tuned by the audio company. It is also said to come with infrared sensors to control appliances without the need for an internet connection. Below are some more details which were scraped from the announcement and translated to English before it was taken down.
'Galaxy Home Mini' can freely control various devices through voice commands through Bixby. Two microphones are built in to support speech recognition over long distances.'Galaxy Home Mini' allows you to make, receive and send and receive messages with just your voice without connecting your smartphone. When connected with an external sensor, it detects emergency situations such as fire, smoke and leaks and provides notifications quickly. It also tells you if your appliance is working or when it needs to be replaced.The Galaxy Home Mini is also equipped with AKG's powerful 5W speakers, offering a live multimedia viewing experience with 360-degree surround sound.'Galaxy Home Mini' provides music ear listening function that allows you to seamlessly listen to the music you've heard on your Galaxy smartphone from the outside, and you can also enjoy the same music anywhere in your home by using the 'Multi Room Speaker' function.
While the announcement mentions a February 12 release date, it's important to note, that we don't yet have a date for the U.S. release. It could be that Samsung wants to test out the Galaxy Home Mini in its home country first, and develop it more before launching in the U.S. A natural progression of its beta testing program it began for the mini smart speaker back in 2019 in South Korea.
However, we can't rule out hearing more about it during the Unpacked Event scheduled for February 11, 2020. We expect to see Samsung launch its new lineup of Galaxy S20 phones there, and if we're lucky, perhaps some more info on the Galaxy Home speakers.
Samsung Galaxy S20: News, Leaks, Release Date, Specs, and Galaxy S11 Rumors!
