Google Home and Amazon Echo could soon receive huge competition from Samsung

The Google Home and the Amazon Echo represent each firm’s connected home offering that are both hugely popular.

Google Home released back in 2016 and comes in three models.

The Google Home Mini is the firm’s smallest and most affordable smart speaker but certainly offers the weakest audio quality of the trio.

The standard Google Home offers a good compromise between sound fidelity and a minimalist design while the Google Home Max puts audio at the forefront of its experience.

Back in October the Mountain View company announced its first smart display dubbed the Google Home Hub.

The product flaunts the same built-in Assistant functionality as the other Home models but adds a 7-inch screen that displays contextual information.

Google Home fiercely competes with Amazon’s Echo range that has been on the market longer and comes in more variants.

Just like the Home, the Amazon Echo comes in a variety of models that each have different nuances.

While Google and Amazon certainly dominate the smart speaker market, it appears Samsung is determined to challenge both with its Galaxy Home.

The Galaxy Home was announced alongside the Galaxy Note 9 back in August and has been positioned as a premium speaker that also has the firm’s Bixby virtual assistant built-in.

In fact, during the announcement of the speaker, the South Korean OEM said it combined “amazing sound and elegant design”.

Galaxy Home has six speakers and a subwoofer that could challenge the Google Home and the Amazon Echo on a pure audio front.

Samsung has been eager to tout the sound delivered by the device has been tuned by AKG.

The product’s outline itself is reminiscent to that of a vase; the speaker is held up by three legs at the bottom and has a curved design.

Meanwhile, the top of the smart product is flat and features buttons to control audio playback.

When the Galaxy Home initially debuted, Samsung did not give a clear indication as to when the hardware would release.

However, following the firm’s recent Unpacked event in San Francisco that discussed the Galaxy S10, the firm’s co-CEO, DJ Koh, told CNET the Home will release by April.

Additionally, a Samsung spokesperson has since told The Verge the hardware will debut “in the first half of 2019”.

The biggest challenge for the Galaxy Home will surely be with regard to Bixby’s ability to compete with the likes of Alexa and the Google Assistant.

Since debuting on the Galaxy S8 in 2017, Samsung has placed a heavy emphasis on its virtual assistant and will be featuring it in forthcoming televisions this year.

It is currently unclear how much the Galaxy Home will cost when it releases.

source: express.co.uk