Google Home and Amazon Echo could soon face competition from a long-awaited rival

Google Home and the Amazon Echo command the connected home market, at least in Western markets. Both product series’ initially launched with a single smart speaker, but have expanded rapidly into a portfolio of gadgets with screens, doorbells, and more.

In fact, the latter held a hardware event earlier this week where it not only updated its regular Echo and Echo Dot, but also unwrapped a raft of brand new products that bring Alexa to earphones, plug sockets, and even dog collars.

You can find a collated list of everything Amazon announced at its Seattle hardware event here.

Although Amazon and Google continue to improve their established smart home lineups, the duo could finally be challenged by Samsung.

The South Korean giant initially declared it was entering the connected home sphere in August last year. At the time the firm previewed the Galaxy Home, a smart speaker with its virtual assistant Bixby built-in.

Just like Apple did with its HomePod, Samsung has heavily focused on the sound quality of its speaker.

The Seoul-based vendor has frequently reminded fans the Galaxy Home’s sound prowess, which is tuned by renown audio brand AKG, which Samsung bought as part of its Harman Kardon acquisition. The Galaxy Home array promises to deliver 360-degree sound.

Design-wise, the Galaxy Home has a mesh-like exterior and sits on three metal legs, like a stool.

Samsung’s smart speaker has certainly been a long time coming, the firm initially targeted April 2019 for its release, but missed the deadline.

The tech firm has since clarified it’s still hard at work on the device. In fact, Samsung’s Consumer Electronics Division CEO, Kim Hyun-suk, has declared the hardware will launch in the “mid-second half of the year”, according to The Korea Herald.

And it seems new evidence has added further credence to the idea the Galaxy Home’s arrival may only be around the corner.

SamMobile recently received a screenshot from a user showcasing a new Spotify notification that included an image of the Galaxy Home.

When translated from French, the prompt told the user they can link their Samsung account to their Spotify one. This makes sense because the tech firm has previously announced Spotify will be the streaming service of choice for all its devices, including the Galaxy Home.

SamMobile said it was unable to see the alert itself, but its emergence suggests one of two things. Either the notification was sent as part of a random test, or it was delivered because the Galaxy Home’s debut is imminent.

Of course, we won’t know either way until Samsung finally confirms a release date for the smart speaker. Until then, Express.co.uk will bring you all the latest news and rumours about the device.

source: express.co.uk