The Galaxy Home Mini passed through the FCC today, after rumors that a more smaller smart speaker would arrive under the Galaxy Home brand.
There’s not much to tell, other than that the Mini supports Bluetooth 4.2 instead of the contemporary Bluetooth 5.0. Samsung’s Galaxy S10, released this Spring, and Galaxy Note9, released last Fall, both feature Bluetooth 5.0.
The Galaxy Home Mini will not have a dedicated stand as the regular Galaxy Home does, is smaller in size, and retains the same AKG branding as we’ve seen on the original Galaxy Home. The bottom of the product features the product label, while the device’s very top would contain the necessary device controls and launch in a blue color with a gray ring around the top (the photo below comes courtesy of the FCC). The Galaxy Home Mini has already been Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certified, signs that a product launch could come soon.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Home smart speaker back in August of last year when it introduced the Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Watch to the world. The Galaxy Home smart speaker is designed as Samsung’s own take on the smart speaker market, a place where Google and Amazon already sit with the Google Home and Amazon Echo speakers.
The Galaxy Home comes with three legs and resembles a Harmon Kardon Onyx Studio Speaker, but its greatest selling point is the AI integration of its on intelligent voice command assistant, Bixby. Bixby was also developed by Samsung as a replacement of its former, infamous S-Voice, and serves as a competitor to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
SmartThings integration is also onboard, making the Galaxy Home a part of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) agenda from the start. The Galaxy Home, like all other Galaxy products, is designed to make consumer life smarter. Samsung’s purchase of HARMAN means that AKG sound brings quality audio to the Galaxy Home.
Samsung didn’t say at the time what the price of its Galaxy Home speaker would be, nor did the Korean giant guarantee a release date for it. In November, the Galaxy Home passed through the FCC featuring model number SM-V510 and “smart speaker” label. In February of this year, Samsung said its Galaxy Home speaker would launch “in the first half of 2019,” suggesting an April launch. And yet, it is now May and the Galaxy Home is still yet to arrive.
In December, a new leak demonstrated that Samsung was preparing not one, but two smart speakers for consumers. The second speaker, bearing model number SM-V310, would only be available in black, feature the same Bixby 2.0 experience as the more expensive Galaxy Home, and that the second speaker could be called “The Galaxy Mini.”
It is this second speaker that has just passed through the FCC; the regular Galaxy Home passed through the FCC months ago. It has been said that the original Galaxy Home could retail for $500, with the Galaxy Home Mini retailing at $300.
The Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S10, Samsung’s latest devices, already have Bixby integration and will work with the Galaxy Home and Home Mini out of the box.