Samsung may not launch a Bixby smart speaker anytime soon, despite reports claiming that it's preparing to launch one by the end of August, because it believes that “the global market is dominated by Amazon and the Korean market is too small to make profits.”
As it stands, the Amazon Echo holds an astonishing 70 percent share in the global AI speaker market, which is continuing to rise on a daily basis, with the Google Home coming in second place. Could Samsung win over all of those customers? Probably not.
The only region it'll be able to influence customers to switch is South Korea, where SK Telecom's NUGU is currently the leading AI speaker. But with only 100,000 units in the wild, Samsung is right to assume that the market is too small to make a healthy profit.
Related: Samsung is reportedly working on its Bixby smart speaker
“Samsung may take a wait-and-see attitude rather than hurriedly jumping into the uncertain market with a new device, whose functions are no different from existing devices,” said Kim Jong-ki, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics.
According to a report published by The Korea Herald, Samsung is going to continue working on Vega, the codename associated with its Bixby AI speaker, so that it can adapt the technology for use in various home appliances, including refrigerators.
