Facebook is about to jump into the home device market with its video chat system named Portal putting it in the same league as the Amazon Alexa.
Reports by Cheddar say the social media behemoth is planning to release this system in the second half of 2018. It will be for indoor use and controlled by voice similar to the current smart speakers on the market. It will also allow streaming from third-party services such as YouTube and Spotify.
Reports say the Portal will have a microphone, wide-angle camera and speakers with AI embedded into the device and aimed for everyone to use in a communal room. The device will have a feature where the camera will automatically scan for faces and then link those faces to their respective Facebook accounts.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO at Facebook does not care about sales of this device but more about getting people to use their phones more often.
Sources say Portal will be announced at Facebook’s F8 conference in May. Cheddar says Portal will be priced at US$499 but could be lowered to increase sales.
