While most of the tech companies are trying to build their own Smart Speaker, it seems that Samsung is not interested in entering that space. A source familiar with the matter has revealed that the South Korean OEM may not release its own artificial intelligence supported smart speaker any time soon. Given that Apple, at its World Wide Developers Conference 2017 revealed its own smart-speaker HomePod, there were growing speculations that Samsung would also follow the footsteps of its rival and soon launch its own AI speaker powered by its own virtual assistant Bixby.
Rumors were rife that the Samsung smart speaker was codenamed “Vega” and was under development for more than a year.
No Samsung smart speaker around the corner?
Korean publication The Korean Herald claims that Samsung does not see AI supported smart-speakers as a profitable business venture which is the main reason behind not developing one. Seeing that the international market is already going gaga over Amazon’s Alexa enabled Echo smart-speakers, Samsung thinks that the Korean tech market is too small to make large scale profits. For the unfamiliar, the smart speaker market all around the world is currently dominated by the Amazon Echo, which has gained more than 70 percent of the market share.
Closely following Amazon’s tail is the Google Home, the smart-speaker from Google. The Korean AI market, on the other hand, is lead by SK Telecom’s NUGU which gathers around 100,000 units of sales.
The source who let it out that Samsung will not be producing a smart speaker also revealed that the South Korean tech company cannot meet the expense to concentrate on the development of a product for an uncertain market.
Given that most of its AI technicians will be now concentrating on developing the Bixby in English, Samsung wants them to focus just there as the rollout of the English version of the Bixby has already been delayed, according to gsm arena.
When will Samsung take the plunge?
The sources claim that although Samsung will not be introducing its own smart speakers in the market anytime soon, they are in the process of testing out the technology on some of its smart appliances such as smart refrigerators.
The technology is being tested to keep it ready to be incorporated in a product if the company feels the market has an opening and it can make profits.
Since the phenomenal success of the Amazon’s Echo in 2014, almost all major tech companies are trying to carve their mark in the Ai field. Google entered the smart speaker market in 2016 with its Google Home and Apple started its journey with the released HomePod. However, it is not known when Samsung will take the plunge and launch a rival to the Echo.
