Samsung Galaxy Home Mini Smart Speaker Beta Program Goes Live in South Korea, Could Be Launched Soon

Samsung announced the Galaxy Home smart speaker a year ago in August 2018, alongside the Galaxy Note 9 smartphone and Galaxy Watch smartwatch. The Bixby-powered smart speaker was meant to be a competitor to the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Google Home series, but still hasn't gone on sale. However, Samsung could now be preparing to launch the product soon, alongside a new Samsung Galaxy Home Mini smart speaker that was tipped last year. The smaller variant is now up for applications to its beta programme in South Korea, indicating that the global launch of the Galaxy Home smart speaker series could be close.

To recall, the Samsung Galaxy Home Mini speaker was first rumoured in October. Its beta programme is now open for applications up till September 1 from Samsung Galaxy smartphone users in South Korea, and was reported on Tizen Help. Interested people can apply, and if selected, will receive a Galaxy Home Mini for testing. The smart speaker is powered by Bixby, and has its sound tuned by AKG, a part of Harman International which was acquired by Samsung in 2016.

The speaker is a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy Home, which promises smart connectivity through the Bixby voice assistant, along with better sound quality than competing options. It's worth pointing out that the larger speaker doesn't seem to have any beta program active.

Samsung Galaxy Home price (expected)

The Samsung Galaxy Home could be priced around the same as the Apple HomePod, which retails at $299 (approximately Rs. 21,500), while the Samsung Galaxy Home Mini could be available for much less, competing with Amazon Echo and Google Home products at under Rs. 10,000. There's no word on when, or indeed if, the Samsung Galaxy Home series will be launched in India.