Samsung's next TVs can be controlled by talking to Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant
- The next Samsung televisions will enable voice control through your existing Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers.
- By saying, "Hey Alexa" or "OK Google," you'll be able to turn your TV on or off, change channels, and even swap input selections.
- Rather than building the assistant software and associated hardware into its TVs, Samsung will require an existing Google Home or Amazon Echo device to power voice control.
Samsung's next line of TVs, coming this year, will offer voice control through Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant.
But there's a caveat: You'll need your own Amazon Echo or Google Home device to power that voice control. Rather than including support for Amazon and Google's voice-controlled assistants in its TVs, Samsung is adding support for existing devices.
According to Engadget, Samsung TV owners will be able to power on/off their sets, change channels, turn the volume up/down, and even swap inputs by talking to their smart device.
Samsung's own voice assistant software, Bixby, will co-exist with support for Amazon and Google's competitors; Bixby is built into Samsung TV remotes.
Samsung is making major announcements this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and this isn't the first major news we've heard about Samsung's upcoming televisions: The electronics giant is working with Apple to bring the iTunes App to Samsung TVs (seen above).
In this bizarre scenario, it's not hard to imagine commanding your Amazon Echo to play a movie you bought through Apple's iTunes on your new Samsung TV.
It's unclear if voice command functionality will come to previous Samsung smart TV models through software updates - representatives speaking with CNET said it may arrive on "2018 or earlier sets in a future software update."