Patently Apple posted a report on July 05 titled "Samsung to launch their new Smart Speaker Device with 'Bixby' at CES 2018 in a Familiar Form Factor." Today CNBC has confirmed that Samsung's President of mobile has told them that a smart speaker is in fact on the way "soon." Whether soon means in time for Christmas or kick-starting the year at CES 2018 is unknown at this time.

CNBC reports that "DJ Koh, the president of Samsung's mobile division, said a smart speaker was on the way. "Maybe soon we will announce it. I am already working on it," Koh told CNBC in an interview ahead of the Note 8 smartphone launch which took place on Wednesday. "As I mentioned I wanted to provide a fruitful user experience at home with Samsung devices, and I want to be moving quite heavily on it," Koh said.

The report further noted that "Samsung has big ambitions in the smart home space, hoping to connect products from TVs and refrigerators. The idea is to have Bixby, the company's digital personal assistant at the center. On the flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone and Note 8 device, a function called Bixby Home is available. This allows people to connect their devices to the smartphone to be controlled via Bixby."

Patently Apple posted a report back in June pointing to Samsung patents covering a possible future smart speaker. One of the patent figures is presented as our cover graphic and more images can be viewed here. How smart the speaker will be is in question. Their patents show a very sophisticated design that works with motion detection if not in-air gesturing while some believe it will be more traditional and bank on a  previous Samsung design.

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