Samsung Confirms Work on Speaker to Compete With Apple HomePod and Amazon Echo

Samsung is indeed working on a smart speaker that will be introduced in the near future, Samsung mobile president DJ Koh told CNBC this morning.

"Maybe soon we will announce it. I am already working on it," he said in an interview following the Galaxy Note 8 launch.

Koh went on to say he wants to "provide a fruitful user experience at home with Samsung devices." "I want to be moving quite heavily on it," he added.

Koh declined to provide additional details about the company's upcoming smart speaker, but a previous report suggests it will be built around Samsung's Bixby virtual assistant. The speaker has been in development for more than a year, but has been hampered by problems with Bixby.

Samsung initially had to delay Bixby's introduction in the English language version of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ due to performance issues, with the functionality being added to the devices just a month ago in in July.

There's no specific launch date for the Samsung speaker, but with Apple planning to debut its own HomePod in December, Samsung's competing device is unlikely to be too far behind. In July, Samsung's speaker was said to still be in early development, with several features and specifications yet to be hammered out.

Apple's HomePod focuses heavily on speaker quality as a way to distinguish itself from competitors like the Amazon Echo. It features a 7 tweeter array, an Apple-designed 4-inch upward-facing woofer, and an A8 chip that powers robust spatial awareness functionality.

It also includes touch controls for navigation, six microphones, built-in Apple Music support, and Siri integration.