LG ThinQ speaker is the latest among the connected home products from LG that’s set to be unveiled at the CES 2018. The Korean maker, however, decided to give a quick glimpse of the new speaker and also ran down on some of its features just days before the official launch.
The LG ThinQ speaker comes with built-in Google Assistant and aims to compete with some of the flagship offerings in the smart speaker category. Ironically, the Google Home Max is one of its direct competitors. It comes powered by Meridian Audio technology for delivering high-resolution lossless audio.
The premium speaker also features LG’s own Deep ThinQ intelligent voice platform, which enables it to connect to the entire LG’s smart home appliance lineup. It includes a range of products including TVs, smart lamps, door locks, sound bars, thermostats, washing machines, refrigerators and robotic vacuums. Controlling these LG IoT devices using the new ThinQ speaker is pretty easy. Simply speak out, “Ok Google, Ask HOME-BOT to work”; and your robotic vacuum would be up and running in a matter of minutes.
LG’s prime competitor Samsung is also working on their own smart speaker. Unlike the LG ThinQ speaker, the Samsung made one is said to be powered by Bixby Voice. Currently, only a few Samsung flagship smartphones including the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8 come with Bixby Assistant on board, but the Korean maker is expected to roll it out to a number of other phones starting next year.
The smart speaker market whilst in its nascent stages has been growing rather steadily since the last few quarters. US sales of smart speakers have tripled to nearly 25 million in 2017. In fact, the holiday quarter in itself constitutes 11 million smart speaker shipments. Sales are expected to grow even further in 2018 with projected figures of around 36 million.
