Almost a year after first revealing it, Google has released the new Google Home Speaker at $99. This speaker has been no secret, it’s just that Google has finally opened up pre-orders and given us a ship date for it.
For those who missed this news last October, the Google Home Speaker is a $99.99 smart speaker that is powered by Gemini. I’d attempt to tell you first about its audio prowess, but that’s not really what Google cares about with this device. They want you to talk to Gemini through it first and foremost.
Gemini on Google Home Speaker
On a Gemini front, this little circular speaker is there to have more natural conversations with, which means speaking more naturally for commands. There’s a light ring on base that dynamically glows whenever it is doing anything, from listening to thinking or responding.
Commands like, “Turn off all lights except the kitchen,” can be done with Gemini. You could also tell it to perform multiple commands in one breath and it should be able to figure them all out before completing each one. You can even change commands mid-sentence, should you say the wrong thing and then correct yourself.
Because Gemini has conversational context, you can ask follow-up questions about a topic, string together more tasks for it to do, etc. It has short-term memory, so you don’t always need to specify the context and it should figure out what to do based on the entire conversation.
And finally, at least for Gemini, you can pay for Google Home Premium to get access to Gemini Live, spoken camera history search, and Home Briefs (summary of the happenings around your house).
The thought here is that this speaker could be much more of a little home assistant than any previous Nest or Google Home device, since it was built for Gemini.
Audio features on Google Home Speaker
During a briefing to talk about Google Home Speaker, someone asked how they would rate the audio experience and Google basically put it somewhere near the Nest Audio, but above Nest Mini. That’s fine, I guess, even if I really want them to make a follow-up to Google Home Max.
This thing does have 360° sound or “Omni-directional sound with 58mm full-range driver,” which should mean balanced audio no matter the content. Google says it has a 2x larger driver and 2.5x stronger bass than the Nest Mini.
For those with a Google TV Streamer, you can easily pair two Google Home Speakers with your Streamer to get a bit of a home theater experience.
As for other specs, there are 3 far-field mics for picking up your voice, a 2-stage mic mute switch, and capacitive touch areas for controls. It has 1GB RAM and 4GB storage, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, is a Thread 1.3 border router, and is powered by a Quad Core A55 2.0GHz chip with NPU.
Of course, since this is a Google Home device, it can work with your other Nest speakers and displays and Google Cast-enabled devices for grouping and pairing.
Free Google Home Premium for 6 months
If you buy a Google Home Speaker before September 30, 2026, Google will include a 6-month free subscription to Google Home Premium ($60 value). This unlocks Gemini Live, mostly, but if you have Nest Cameras or other Google Home stuff, you could see some benefit.
Google Home Speaker price, release date
The new Google Home Speaker is up for pre-order today at $99.99 and ships June 25. In the US, it comes in 4 colors: Hazel, Porcelain, Jade, and Berry.
