Samsung is taking a swing at the smart speaker game joining the ranks of Google, Amazon and Apple with reports saying the company will release a new smart system in the first half of next year.

In August, DJ Koh, president – mobile division at Samsung says the company was working on a smart speaker but did not mention any other details.

Bloomberg reports the new smart speaker will run Bixby, Samsung’s equivalent to Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. It will also synchronise with other Samsung devices such as Galaxy tablets.

The smart speaker is designed to be a hub for the SmartThings ecosystem.

Apple is already hyping up its launch of the HomePod which is tipped to launch next year.

Watch this space, 2018 is gonna be a big year for smart speakers.