Google Home Speaker: In summary
- New smart speaker ditches Nest branding and adopts Gemini
- Doesn’t launch until next year
- Comes in four colours, but only two in the UK
- A new Google Home Premium subscription is required for some features
It’s been a five-year wait, but Google has finally announced a new smart speaker.
It was shown off (accidentally or on purpose) during the Pixel 10 launch event, but not acknowledged in any way. The Google Home Speaker is now official, so we can bring you all the details on it.
The smart speaker now ditched the Nest branding (but keeping it for cameras and doorbells) and comes powered by Gemini AI.
Despite being such a long wait to arrive since the Nest Audio in 2020, the Home Speaker won’t even go on sale in 2025.
Google Home Speaker: What’s new?
Gemini, including Live
“It’s built to be more conversational, to better understand what’s happening and to make it easier than ever to get things done at home,” says Google.
It should be able to help you with more things, like if your dishwasher is broken and there’s a choice of 10 ‘natural sounding’ voices to choose from.
There is a catch here because although you can use Gemini on the Home Speaker for free, more advanced features such as Gemini Live, Sound Detection and Daily Summaries are locked behind a subscription.
Google’s Nest Aware plans are being rebranded as Google Home Premium with Standard and Premium options at £8/$10 or £16/$20 per month (with annual plans, too). You will get a 6-month free trial with your purchase.
It’s unknown if the speaker will act as a smart hub for Thread or Matter devices.
A new(ish) design
The Home Speaker ditches the Nest moniker and comes in a new design, though one that still has plenty of things in common with its predecessors.
The orb-shaped speaker is bigger than the Nest Mini and shorter than the Nest Audio. It comes covered in an eco-friendly fabric.
Frustratingly, while the Home Speaker arrives in four colours – Jade, Berry, Porcelain and Hazel – the UK store only lists the latter two.
A new lighting system sees Google do away with the four dots hidden under the fabric for a ring light around the base, which offers an “expressive visual feedback of what Gemini is doing at any given moment”.
A switch to mute the microphone sits on the underside.
Audio features
As you’d expect from a circular speaker like this, Google is touting 360-audio with a “uniform sound that you can hear from every direction.”
You can also pair two Home Speakers together to create a stereo pair and also link them to a Google TV Streamer , with the firm promising a “cinematic experience with spatial surround-sound audio.”
Balanced tuning aims to make the device sound good for music, podcasts or movies and you can group with other Nest speakers, Nest displays, and Google Cast-enabled devices.
When is the Google Home Speaker release date?
As mentioned earlier, the Google Home Speaker is official, but you’ll have to wait many months to get your hands on one.
Google isn’t even specific about when it will go on sale, saying currently that it’s pegged for ‘Spring 2026’.
How much does the Google Home Speaker cost?
The Home Speaker will set you back £99/$99, which is the same price as the Nest Audio in the US, but a little more expensive in the UK.
There’s just one model, but Google could well launch a ‘Max’ type version in future at a higher price.
What about a new smart display?
If you’re more keen on the Nest Hub side of things, a smart speaker with a screen, then there’s good news.
Google has effectively confirmed that a new Nest Hub (or more) is coming soon .
Author: Chris Martin, Managing Editor, Tech Advisor
Tech Advisor Managing Editor Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been with us for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.
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