Samsung jumps on smart speaker, AR glasses hype trains

Kim expects both smart speakers and mobile robots will become major products in the consumer electronics market, offering a variety of services tailored to pet, child and elderly care. — Samsung

Samsung Electronics Co kicked off 2020 with an array of gadgets from prototype augmented-reality glasses to a new smart speaker that the company hopes will kickstart a fresh foray into the crowded smart home arena.

The world’s biggest maker of home appliances plans to launch the Galaxy Home Mini smart speaker in early 2020, Hyunsuk Kim, chief executive officer of Samsung’s consumer electronics division, said ahead of the CES 2020 exhibition in Las Vegas this week. It comes years after Google’s Home and Amazon.com Inc’s Echo smart speakers – and nearly 18 months after Samsung’s promised but never released Galaxy Home – but the South Korean giant believes it can build a unique ecosystem around the Mini by making it the best controlling device for the home gadgets and appliances that bear its brand.