Samsung showcased the Galaxy Home Mini in the flesh for the first time outside South Korea at the Samsung Developer Conference 2019 in October. That’s also where we got to see it in action for the first time.Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t confirm at that time when the Galaxy Home Mini release would take place. The company revealed today that it’s planning to release the Galaxy Home Mini in early 2020. The timeline was provided by Hyunsuk Kim, who is the CEO of Samsung’s consumer electronics business.Galaxy Home Mini release slated for early 2020It’s important to mention here that Samsung has given vague timelines for the release of its smart speaker before as well. The Galaxy Home Mini was initially said to arrive in the mid-second half of 2019 but that didn’t happen.Forget about the Galaxy Home Mini for a second. Even the Galaxy Home, which was unveiled alongside the Galaxy Note 9 in 2018, has still not been released. Samsung has given multiple launch timelines for that as well but we’ve yet to see the Galaxy Home hit shelves.Kim made no mention of the speaker today, which may suggest that the Mini might be the only one to be released, even if there’s some evidence to suggest otherwise. Samsung’s vision for the Galaxy Home Mini is to make it the best device for controlling its other smart devices and home appliances. Kim told Bloomberg that he’s testing the Galaxy Home Mini in his own home, where it’s connected to 63 smart devices that include lights, curtains and other third-party gadgets.It recently emerged that the Galaxy Home Mini has a neat little feature that not many smart speakers do. It has four infrared remote transmitters and receivers to cover all ranges. This means the Galaxy Home Mini can also control any non-smart gadget and appliance that uses an infrared remote. “No other speaker in the world can control gadgets as much as Samsung can,” Kim highlighted.Samsung is evidently taking a different approach so that the first smart speaker it puts out isn’t just lost in a sea of other smart speakers. Perhaps that’s why we haven’t seen the Galaxy Home yet. The Bixby-powered Galaxy Home Mini is much more capable of controlling both smart and non-smart devices.Kim didn’t say precisely when the Galaxy Home Mini will be released. Early 2020 suggests that it should be made available in the next couple of months. Perhaps its release will be timed with the Galaxy S20 in February? We’d definitely like that.
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