Samsung unveils H7 wireless speaker with no personal assistant

Samsung today pulled the covers off of a new wireless speaker that the company will formally introduce at the CES conference in Las Vegas next week.

The H7 speaker features Samsung’s previously announced Ultra High Quality (UHQ) audio and is capable of going down to 35Hz to deliver low bass, according to a statement. Wheels on the top of the gadget will let people adjust the volume and choose playlists from music streaming services.

But what’s notable is that the speaker doesn’t have any smart intelligent assistant built in. Between the Amazon Echo and the Google Home, that sort of thing is likely to be included, if anything is. Earlier today, SamMobile reported that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone will include a personal assistant named Bixby that’s based on technology from the Viv acquisition. One could imagine Samsung packing Bixby into an attractive speaker like the H7, but that’s not what the company has done.

Coincidentally, Harman, which Samsung acquired recently, will be coming out with a speaker powered by Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant in 2017. There’s no indication that this device will also support an assistant from Samsung.

Also today, Samsung introduced the MS750 Soundbar and the M9500 UHD Blu-ray Player.

In early 2016, Samsung showed the HW-K950 Soundbar speaker system, and in early 2015, the company announced the opening of an audio lab in Los Angeles.