Google's first new smart speaker in six years, the Google Home Speaker, will start shipping on June 25th, narrowly missing its promised spring launch window. Preorders for the $99 device opened today, June 17th.
Same Hardware, New Software
Despite the long wait, the hardware remains unchanged from its announcement nine months ago. The speaker features a slightly squished round design with touch-capacitive buttons on top and a light ring at the bottom for status indication. It is available in four colors: porcelain (white), hazel (black), jade (green), and berry (red), with the latter two being US exclusives.
The Home Speaker is Google's first audio device specifically designed for Gemini for Home. While Gemini for Home is available on other Google Nest speakers and smart displays, chief product officer Anish Kattukaran stated that this device delivers the best experience. The speaker runs local models for noise cancellation, echo suppression, and sound separation to ensure Gemini can hear commands even with background noise.
Enhanced Conversational AI
Gemini for Home has been available on Nest speakers for several months through an early access program. Compared to Google Assistant, Gemini is a more natural conversational assistant. It understands natural language commands, handles complex questions, and follows along if the user hesitates or changes their thought mid-sentence. It also allows limited back-and-forth conversation without needing to repeat the wake word.
Design and Audio Improvements
The Google Home Speaker is smaller than the Nest Audio, Google's previous flagship smart speaker. Kattukaran noted that customer feedback indicated the taller Nest Audio was difficult to place around the home. While Google does not claim the new speaker matches the Nest Audio's sound quality, it emphasizes that it is a significant audio upgrade over the Nest Mini. The speaker features 360-degree audio for uniform sound from any point in the room.
Users can pair two Google Home speakers for stereo sound or connect them to the Google TV Streamer for spatial surround sound, a feature not previously offered on Google's smart speakers. The device also functions as a Matter controller and Thread border router, supporting smart home devices like lights, locks, and plugs. However, it runs Thread 1.3 at launch, not the newer Thread 1.4 specification.
Why the Delay?
Kattukaran explained that the time between announcement and launch was used to improve Gemini for Home. Improvements include reducing latency for smart home and media commands by up to 40 percent, fixing over 2,500 reported issues, and shipping more than 50 new features and improvements.
Launch Offers
Customers who purchase a Google Home Speaker before mid-September will receive six months of Google Home Premium included. The premium service starts at $10 per month and is required for Gemini Live, which Kattukaran describes as the most conversational experience with Gemini. It also unlocks AI-powered search on Google Nest cameras and Google Home Brief, which summarizes daily household activity.
With the Google Home Speaker, Google is making its strongest case yet for integrating Gemini into the smart home. Testing will confirm whether it delivers on that promise when the speaker arrives next week.
Correction, June 17th: An earlier version misstated the ship date; it is June 25th, not June 29th. It also misstated the number of bugs fixed; it is over 2,500, not over 25,000.
