Samsung announces the public beta version of Galaxy Home Mini even before delivery of a full speaker

Samsung has quietly announced a new smart speaker powered by Bixby, the Galaxy Home Mini, and invited Galaxy smartphone owners in South Korea to sign up for a beta test of the new device. According to Samsung, the new speaker can control IoT devices, it integrates with Samsung's SmartThings platform and uses the audio technology provided by Samsung's AKG audio brand. SamMobile was the first to spot the announcement.

This is the first time that Samsung has officially admitted the existence of its smallest smart speaker, although we have a decent idea of ​​its arrival, thanks to its appearance in a file filed by Federal Communications Commission at the beginning of the year. Beyond the few details provided by Samsung in the announcement of the beta, we know almost nothing about this new device. We do not even know for sure if the speaker is powered by battery, for example. Presumably, we'll know when Samsung will decide to officially announce the speaker, although it's not clear if this will happen before or after the beta testers have grabbed hold of the hand.

Image: Samsung

It's also worth noting that Samsung's announcement seems to omit any mention of the original Galaxy Home smart speaker announced alongside Note 9 last year. Samsung's full-size smart speaker has been subject to continuous delays since its announcement. Originally scheduled for release in the first half of this year, the company postponed the speaker in the third quarter of this year and recently said it was working on "fine-tuning and improving" before its release.