Samsung is working on a Bixby-powered smart speaker- Report

After Apple, we could soon witness another tech giant joining the smart speaker fray. Reportedly, Samsung is developing its own voice-activated smart speaker powered by Bixby, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

The speaker, code-named Vega, has been in the works for more than a year, according to the Journal's sources, but many features and specifications are still being decided and there's still no deadline set for its release. The project’s development is being slowed by the progress of Bixby itself. Bixby Voice is currently available in Korean language only, and the English version is still in works.

According to Korea Herald, Bixby’s English commands are taking time since the company lacks ‘big data’ which is essential for developing it in other languages. There could also be communication issues and language barrier between engineers at Samsung’s research centre in the US and the South Korea headquarters. The beta version of Bixby in English was released for some consumers in the US but the results haven’t been satisfactory.

With Vega, Samsung would be joining an already crowded market that has Amazon and Google as the major players with Apple and Microsoft recently announcing their plans to get in on the action too, through HomePod and Invoke.