Last fall, Google announced that it was working on an all-new Google Home speaker, scheduled for release in mid-2026. And while it took a little longer than expected, the company today began taking pre-orders for its latest speaker ahead of its official on-sale date of June 25.
While the new Google Home fulfills a similar role to the existing Nest Audio, including the ability to function as linked stereo speakers when paired with a second unit, there are a number of other design changes and upgrades. Instead of relying on directional sound, Google Home was created to deliver clear 360-degree sound in an even more compact chassis. And when paired with Google’s TV Streamer, it can even stream stereo sound when you watch shows and movies.
The exterior of the speaker is covered in a 3D knitted fabric made from recycled materials and will be available in four colors: hazel, porcelain, jade and berry. Another change is that instead of placing indicator lights behind the speaker’s mesh covering, Google opted for a ring of LEDs around the base of the speaker to provide more dynamic feedback when its mic is on and it’s listening for commands or answering questions.
However, the other big improvement in Google’s latest speaker is that Gemini finally takes center stage as your primary digital assistant. This change is part of the company’s ongoing program to bring smarter and more useful AI-based features to a wider range of people. Ditching the classic Google Assistant, the speaker can use Gemini to do things like run more complicated or multi-step commands, like dim all the lights in a room, play music, and set a timer with a single query or ask Gemini to find a recipe for a specific dish before adding those ingredients to your shopping list.
Google says Gemini on the Home also offers better contextual understanding and longer short-term memory, so you can have deeper interactions without needing to constantly remind it of relevant information. Google says this should also help prevent keyword fatigue, as users will be able to do more without having to constantly trigger the speaker saying “Hey Google” or “OK, Google.”
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That said, if you want to use the speaker’s full potential, you’ll need to have a Google Home Premium subscription. By upgrading to the standard $10 per month plan, users will have access to Gemini Live which offers deeper, smoother chatbot-like conversations as well as enhanced automation capabilities. Meanwhile, the $20 premium tier adds additional features, including the AI-powered Home Brief, which summarizes all events tracked by compatible security cameras, video doorbells and more, as well as AI-powered alert notifications and home video history. Fortunately, for those who are already subscribed to one of Google’s AI and cloud storage plans, you may already have access to some of these features. For example, the $20 per month Google AI Pro subscription includes Google Home Premium Standard as part of the package.
The new Google Home speaker is available for pre-order now for $100, with official sales scheduled for June 25.
