Xiaomi unveils its latest Google Assistant enabled smart speaker

• Tyler Lee
• 2 years ago

If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive smart speaker, then you might be interested to learn that Xiaomi has officially announced its latest smart speaker, the Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR Control.

Xiaomi is no stranger to the smart speaker game as they launched their first device a couple of years ago, so this new speaker is essentially a follow-up to that. With the Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR Control, the company has enabled support for Google Assistant, meaning that you can use this speaker to control smart home devices that are supported by Google Assistant.

The speaker itself features a 1.5-inch speaker, two built-in microphones, an LED that lets users know when the speaker is listening for your command, and interestingly enough and a bit of a rarity among smart speakers, IR sensors. What this means is that you could, in theory, use it to control certain electronics that do not have smart capabilities, like a television or an air-conditioner that would otherwise be controlled using an IR remote control.

The speakers can also be daisy chained with multiple speakers so that you can play music throughout the home, or simply paired with another Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR Control to create a stereo effect.

With its specs and features out of the way, there is some bad news. Right now, the speaker is only available in India and it is unclear when it will make its way to other regions. As for its pricing, it will be priced at around $75.

Source: XDA Developers