Samsung unveils a lot of products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every year. It often takes three or four months for those products to hit the market. However, there have been times when a product has been unveiled, not necessary at CES, but Samsung doesn't end up releasing it.
The Galaxy Home is one such example. It was unveiled in 2018 and given prime placement at its CES 2019 booth as Samsung's answer to the Apple HomePod smart speaker, powered by Siri. The Galaxy Home would have Bixby as the smart assistant and provide similar functionality. People kept waiting and waiting but the Galaxy Home was never released. It's safe to say that Samsung has given up on that idea now, as six years is a long time to wait for a simple product.
There's another product that was first showed off a long time ago but it never made it to market. Samsung unveiled the Ballie robot at CES 2020. It was a small, rolling robot that gave off BB-8 vibes. Samsung said it had on-device AI capabilities, could help users with tasks around the house, and even work as a fitness companion. The company didn't say when it would release the robot but given that it had been unveiled at the CES stage, there was seriousness behind it.
We can cut Samsung some slack here. It took the wraps off Ballie in January 2020, merely a couple of months before the pandemic changed our lives forever. The world shut down, billions of people had to quarantine, and all of us had to adjust to the new normal. It threw a spanner in the works for all companies big and small, Samsung was certainly impacted, so even if it wanted to release the Ballie robot later that year, the circumstances weren't suitable.
Fast forward four years later and imagine our surprise when Ballie is re-announced at CES 2024. Samsung made some major design changes, gave it an integrated projector, the ability to play music, answer phone calls, and a lot more. The company also gave a much more detailed overview about its capabilities compared to 2020 when it barely scratched the surface of what was possible with Ballie. There were plenty of videos at Ballie's second coming, showcasing its various features, giving us an idea of how it might make our lives easier.
This iteration of Ballie admittedly looks a lot more complete than the one we saw back in 2020. Technology has also progressed significantly in the four years that have passed that Ballie can be capable of a lot more now compared to back then. Samsung has also had a considerable amount of time to fine tune this product, so it should only be a matter of time before we get it, right?
Well, Samsung didn't say at CES 2024 when it's going to release Ballie. The fact that it went through the trouble of re-announcing the product and showcasing some of its best features using videos goes to show that it hasn't entirely given up on the idea. It might just go ahead and release it, but the company continues to keep everyone in the dark about it.
For starters, we haven't heard anything about Ballie since CES 2024. It's been nearly five months and there's been nothing about what's objectively one of the coolest Samsung products yet, one that could give Samsung a category-defining lead in the home robotics segment. The company hasn't even mentioned it in passing at one of its product launch events, and we're unlikely to hear about it during the upcoming Unpacked event in July.
So what gives? Could Ballie have an outcome similar to that of the Galaxy Home? Samsung kept saying for the longest time that the Galaxy Home would be released before it just stopped talking about it and we were all supposed to forget that it ever existed. As someone who was genuinely excited to see what Ballie could do, I and I'm sure many others, won't be forgetting about Ballie this time. It's far too ingenious to be throw into the dustbin of history unceremoniously. Hopefully, it won't be another four years before Samsung brings up the product again.
