Samsung Galaxy Home Bixby Smart Speaker Still Isn't For Sale One Year After Unveil

Now that at year has passed and we're well into Q3, many of us in the tech industry have some questions about the Bixby-based smart speaker. According to The Verge, which reached out to Samsung, the company still has plans to bring the product to market.

We’re continuing to refine and enhance the Galaxy Home prior to launch, and look forward to sharing more with Galaxy fans soon," said a Samsung representative to the publication. 

We can't help but wonder if Samsung has finally found out that Bixby as a digital assistant has been a hard sell for customers, and an expensive speaker powered by Bixby might just end up being a dud in the market. In fact, during Samsung's presentation on the Galaxy Note 10 on Wednesday, Samsung didn't even mention the name Bixby once. This is despite the fact that the power button on the Galaxy Note 10 now doubles as a Bixby button.

Further complicating matters is that Samsung also has a Galaxy Home Mini in the works, which has already made its appearance known via FCC filings. The Galaxy Home Mini has a similar design to its bigger brother, but doesn't have "feet" on the bottom.

Samsung competitor Apple has itself faced difficulty in the smart speaker market with its HomePod, which uses the Siri digital assistant. The HomePod was originally priced at a $349, but Apple instituted a permanent price cut to $249 back in April. Despite the reduced price, Apple still hasn't been able to catch up to competitors like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The HomePod still only has an anemic 5 percent of the smart speaker market in the United States.