Google’s New Smart Speaker Promises to Power a Voice Assistant That Doesn’t Suck

It’s been five long years since Google last released the Nest Audio smart speaker, but here we are. Today, Google unveiled the Google Home Speaker, which comes with upgraded hardware designed specifically to power a new generation of Gemini-run AI in your home.

According to Google, the Home Speaker comes with “custom processing to handle Gemini’s advanced
AI for faster, more fluid interactions,” which basically just means it’s designed to run Gemini for Home, its new (hopefully more intelligent) generation of voice assistant. What kinds of new-fangled things will you be doing with Gemini for Home, you ask? Well, in addition to your run-of-the-mill voice commands, you’ll also be able to use Gemini Live, which is a conversational Gemini feature that allows a quicker back-and-forth without having to use a wake word.

Unlike the Google Assistant of yore, Google envisions its Gemini Live experience as helping you in real-time with tasks like buying a new car, cooking an impromptu recipe, or fixing your dishwasher (these are all real examples from Google). Whether you’ll use the smart speaker for those things is another question entirely, but Google certainly hopes you’ll try. Google also says its new home assistant will be able to understand more nuanced everyday commands like “turn all of the lights off except one,” or things that are more conditional and specific. I’ll believe this one when I see it! For context, older Google speakers will still be able to use Gemini for Home, but Google is saying that this is the speaker that’s actually optimized for it.

Hardware-wise, there are some upgrades here that may appeal to you, including 360-degree audio, which, according to Google, “plays sound in every direction, so you can enjoy uniform audio no matter where it’s placed in the room.” I haven’t had a chance to really test that out for myself, but it makes sense for Google to focus on that particular capability since smart speakers don’t always have the optimal placement for both audio playback and running your smart home.

Speaking of audio playback, Google is also introducing a feature that (like Amazon Echos and Apple’s HomePods) allows you to pair two of Home Speakers together for use as a home theater setup for stereo sound. The feature doesn’t sound anywhere near as robust as Amazon’s Alexa Home Theater that lets you group up to five Echos for one home theater, but let’s be honest, you’re not buying that many Google/Amazon speakers anyway.

On top of 360-degree sound and a new theater setup, there are also minor updates to the look, including a new indicator ring light at the bottom that lets you know when the Home Speaker is listening. Having something obvious to notify you when your Google Home Speaker is on is critical in this generation if Google intends to make Gemini Live a thing—you’re going to have to know when it’s your turn to speak and also when the speaker is “thinking” about something.

The look is also slightly different this generation. There are four new colors: Porcelain, Hazel, Jade, and Berry, and Google says the Home Speaker is made with recycled materials and the mesh is made via a “unique 3D knitting process that significantly reduces fabric waste.” This still looks like a Google smart speaker at the end of the day, but I definitely prefer it over Amazon’s Death Star look for its new Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio.

Whether the Google Home Speaker feels next-gen will depend (like previous generations) almost entirely on whether Gemini can make it smarter. As I’ve covered previously, Google Home has been in shambles as of late, and while the company has pushed out a lot of updates to get things back on track, I’m not sure they’ve made a material difference with the people who have built their smart homes around Google’s ecosystem. I’m one of those people who poured everything into Google smart speakers and its Google Home app, so I’m right here with you, hoping that this new hardware and new voice assistant finally give us the smart home we were promised.

So when can you buy the new Google Home Speaker? Well… we know it’ll cost $100, but Google’s only announcing today that availability will be “spring 2026.” If you were hoping to ask Santa for a new smart speaker (or two for stereo pairing), you may wanna ask for something else, cause it won’t be out this year.