Samsung's Smart Speaker Is Codenamed Vega, Development Slowed Down Due To Bixby

Samsung is rumored to be building its own smart speaker, which will be powered by its Bixby voice assistant. The development of the device is said to have slowed down due to the lack of progress with Bixby.

Samsung’s smart speaker is said to be codenamed as Vega, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, the WSJ’s report didn’t include details about the smart speaker’s specifications, nor did it provide a timeframe for when consumers can expect it to be released.

What was made certain about the report is the development of project Vega is being slowed down. The lack of progress of Bixby is the reason behind delay.

READ: Samsung Bixby Smart Speaker Reportedly In The Works

Bixby was introduced by Samsung earlier this year as one of the key new features of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The new voice assistant is such a big part of Samsung’s new phone that it even had its own dedicated physical button.

The South Korean phone maker promised a lot of features that will be included with the Bixby voice assistant, including voice commands and Bixby Vision. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S8 was released in the United States without English voice support for Bixby.

Samsung only began rolling out the preview for English voice support for Bixby in the U.S. last month, and it seems like it still has a long way to go before every user is able to take advantage of it. Users in South Korea are able to fully use Bixby.

This is the biggest reason why Samsung’s smart speaker might take a long time before it’s revealed. The company needs a lot of data, a necessary ingredient in deep learning technology.

“Developing Bixby in other languages is taking more time than we expected mainly because of the lack of the accumulation of big data,” a Samsung spokesperson told The Korea Herald.

READ: Galaxy S8, S8+ Owners Can Now Use Bixby Voice Through Samsung’s Preview Program

An anonymous source also told The Korea Herald the delay in the English version of Bixby is also being caused by the geographical and language barriers between Samsung’s California research/engineering team and its South Korean headquarters.

With Bixby’s development and progress being slow, it’s unsurprising that it’s also affecting the development of Samsung’s project Vega smart speaker. Samsung may have been able to release the Galaxy S8 without full Bixby support, but the company won’t be able to do the same with a smart speaker, as pointed out by Android Authority.

If Samsung wants its own smart speaker to succeed, it has to make sure that Bixby will be up and running by the time it’s released. When Samsung finally releases project Vega, it will be facing off against rivals that already have a considerable lead.

Currently leading the smart speaker race is Amazon with its Alexa-powered Echo speakers, followed by the Google Home speaker. Apple has already announced the Siri-powered HomePod, which will be hitting stores in December.