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Free Galaxy Home Mini offered with S20 pre-orders in South Korea
The speaker hasn't even officially launched yet, so this is the only way to get it
Samsung's smart speakers have been in the news for months now. While plans for the big, oddly-shaped Galaxy Home appear to be all but scrapped, its smaller sibling has been popping up repeatedly over the past months. This Galaxy Home Mini is real indeed, and Samsung will offer it for free with S20 5G pre-orders in South Korea.
It has been almost two years since Samsung revealed the Bixby-powered Galaxy Home smart speaker, and a smaller version was announced in 2019, but neither product has actually been released yet. Now it looks like at least the Galaxy Home Mini will see the light of day, according to a now-removed Samsung press release.
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Samsung's Bixby-powered 'Galaxy Home' smart speaker has become a running gag in the tech world, as Samsung has barely mentioned it since it was announced in 2018 (alongside the Galaxy Note9). While the original speaker is still slated for a Q3 2019 release, a smaller version passed through the FCC a few months ago, and now it's going out to beta testers in Samsung's home country of South Korea.
The Galaxy Home was announced alongside the Galaxy Note9 back in August of last year, but it's been radio silence for the Bixby smart speaker since then. Samsung's Consumer Electronics CEO now says that the Galaxy Home will be released in the third quarter of this year, meaning it'll have been around a year since its initial debut.
Earlier this week, Samsung officially announced its Bixby-powered smart speaker - the Galaxy Home. The design is certainly interesting, as its three legs and curved frame sets it apart from most competing products. As it turns out, the Galaxy Home bears a striking resemblance to various common objects - including pots, grills, and even cow udders.
Samsung's Note9-revealing Unpacked event just wrapped up, and the company had a few surprises outside the expected big-screen phone. Among them was the Bixby Home, Samsung's first entry into the smart speaker market. Built around Samsung's in-house personal assistant, It's packed with six individual drivers for omnidirectional sound, plus a subwoofer. This time it isn't an April Fools' Day joke, either.