Google Home Speaker with Gemini AI arrives June 25 at $99, but premium features cost extra

The Gemini-powered Google Home Speaker arrives on June 25 for $100

Good things take time, but not all things that take time are good. The jury is still out on the Google Home Speaker, but it certainly took a while to arrive. After announcing its new speaker last August, Google finally has a release date. The company's first new smart home speaker in years will launch on June 25, and you can preorder it today for $99.99. The generically named Google Home Speaker is Google's first home audio device in almost six years. The last one was the Nest Audio, which debuted back in September 2020. The new device is small and round -- an oblate spheroid, technically. It's covered in a partially recycled fabric available in four colors: hazel, porcelain, jade, and berry (jade and berry are limited to the US). Google says the device produces "360-degree sound" for a uniform listening experience anywhere in a room. Previous Google speakers included Assistant-style illuminated lights, but the Google Home Speaker features a light ring around the bottom that glows when the device is listening, "thinking," or responding. This is becoming a trend with Google. The company will require a similar glowing lightbar embellishment on the upcoming Googlebook laptops. There are three far-field microphones distributed around the speaker that will pick up your speech, and there's a mute switch when you don't want it listening for the "OK Google" trigger. Inside, the speaker has a quad-core A55-based processor clocked at 2GHz with a dedicated NPU. It runs local AI models for better sound isolation, allowing it to filter out background noise better than past smart speakers. Smart speakers have an annoying tendency to mishear, so the Google Home Speaker could be less frustrating in that way. If you don't want to talk to the speaker, there are capacitive touch controls on the top to control media playback. Interestingly, the new device may not be an upgrade on all fronts. The Nest Audio had a 75 mm woofer and a 19 mm tweeter, but the Google Home Speaker has only a single 58 mm full-range driver. Google tells Ars that the new speaker's audio quality will fall between the Nest Audio and the smaller Nest Mini. Despite the apparent drop in audio quality, the Google Home Speaker does have some utility beyond talking to Gemini. If you have a Google TV Streamer, up to two Home Speakers can pair with it for "Immersive" audio output. It also integrates with any other Nest speakers and displays on your local network. Buying the Google Home Speaker also gets you six months of Google Home Premium. This adds various AI features to the Home app, which you may or may not want. It also enables Gemini Live on the speaker, allowing you to have a back-and-forth conversation with Google's AI. Even if you want this feature, you may not need the new speaker, as Gemini is also available on Google's other speakers. Your old speaker may not have the local processing and noise filtering capabilities of the new model, but Gemini lives in the cloud -- the Google Home Speaker is just a new way to interact with it, and it can be yours for a hundred bucks.

Google bets on Gemini to reinvent the smart home speaker

After years of incremental updates, Google is betting that its Gemini AI can reinvent its smart speaker. On Wednesday, the company introduced its first audio device built specifically for Gemini with the $99.99 Google Home Speaker. The new Google Home device is the first standalone smart speaker from the tech giant since the Nest Audio in September 2020. That older device arrived at a time when smart speakers were thought of largely as handy controllers for your smart home and music-playing systems. They lacked the smarts of today's AI chatbots, as commands often had to be phrased correctly to get things to work. The Google Home Speaker is changing that, as you'll be able to speak using natural language requests and even make multi-step requests using the phrasing you'd like. For instance, you could tell the speaker to "turn off all the lights except for my bedside lamp," or "dim the kitchen lights, play some relaxing music, and set a timer for 20 minutes." You can also make corrections mid-sentence as you speak instead of having to try requests again, and Gemini will understand. That means you could say something like "turn off the coffee maker...I mean, turn it on!" and the AI will respond appropriately, Google points out. Plus, the device will ship with 10 new voices that can have two-way conversations with you about topics that aren't limited to smart home tasks or other simple commands. You can ask more nuanced questions and dive deeper into topics you want to learn about, as you could when speaking with Gemini on your smartphone. The speaker's microphone can also remain on briefly when using the "Continued Conversation" feature, so you can more naturally ask follow-up questions without having to say "OK, Google" again. The device itself looks similar to older versions, with its 3D-knit textile wrapping and rounded 3.4 x 4.2-inch design. In the U.S., the speaker comes in Jade and Berry colors in addition to the Hazel and Porcelain options available in the rest of the world. A new ring light at the bottom will indicate if the speaker is listening, thinking, or responding. But not all of the new device's AI smarts will be free. Instead, Google will sell Google Home Premium subscription plans for $10 per month (or $100 per year) if you want to take advantage of more powerful AI features. This includes being able to have more free-flowing conversations with Gemini Live, which you kick off by saying "Hey Google, let's chat." Home Premium can also help you ask about and make sense of activity captured on your home's Nest cameras, or offer summaries of what happened in the home while you were out. Whether those capabilities are compelling enough to justify another monthly subscription remains to be seen, particularly when many of the device's Gemini features are available without paying. Google will try to get you used to the advanced features by offering them for free for six months before pushing you to subscribe, however. If successful, Google will have reinvigorated the smart speaker lineup with generative AI and found a way to get some customers to pay for those technological advances. The device is available for pre-order now and will ship later this month.

Google's New Smart Home Speaker Is Here, a Challenger to the HomePod Mini

Expertise Smart home | Smart security | Home tech | Energy savings | A/V Google's latest smart speaker -- called the Google Home Speaker -- has arrived, starting at $100. It's the first new speaker line Google has introduced since 2019, offering a more affordable alternative to Apple's HomePod and competing with Amazon's smaller Echo speakers and the $100 HomePod mini. The Google Home Speaker has dropped the Nest name, for reasons I don't really understand, but it looks like a Nest Mini all grown up, measuring about 3.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide. It houses a 58-millimeter, full-range driver for 360-degree sound (specs similar to the HomePod mini). Google says the speaker delivers 2.5 times more bass than the tiny Nest Mini and can pair with Google TV streamers if you prefer a home theater setup. Those aren't specs that can compete with something like an Echo Studio or Wiim Sound, but Google has different goals in mind with its Home Speaker. Equipped with a Quad Core A55 2.0 GHz processor, the speaker is designed for Gemini for Home, Google's AI reframed for smart home spaces. The free version promises richer, better answers than the old Google Assistant, although my own experience with Gemini for Home has been mixed so far (the voice assistant struggles with some simple tasks and answers compared to Alexa Plus, and we'll have to see what Siri AI brings to the table). But if you upgrade to a Google Home Premium subscription, starting at $10 per month, you can unlock more powerful Gemini for Home features, including deeper interactions, continued conversations without awkward wake word pauses and various activity summaries if you use Nest security cameras. It's nice, but I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the extra cost. The pricing for these AI features is currently a gray area, and each company has its own approach. Amazon is giving out Alexa Plus for free if you have a Prime subscription, but it's incredibly expensive otherwise. Apple is hedging, saying some future Siri AI features may require a bigger iCloud subscription, but the company has been very light on details so far. To me, $10 a month to enable a slightly more advanced AI doesn't seem worthwhile, but Google is offering a deal that makes it easier to try out Gemini for Home's full capabilities. Buy a Google Home Speaker within the next few months, and you'll get six months of a Google Home Premium subscription for free, so you can get a lengthy trial of these features before committing. On a side note, I do like the changes Google has made to the Google Home app over the past year, and this speaker should be able to control most connected home devices, even without a subscription. In addition to all the smarts, the speaker has an LED ring at the bottom to indicate its status and capacitive touch controls for manual adjustments (including a mic-off button for privacy). And if you like color, the smart speaker comes in more options than the Nest ever did, such as berry, jade and hazel. I'll be trying the speaker out in the coming weeks and will report back on how it compares-- and whether it deserves a spot on your table, with or without Gemini.

Google Home Speaker arrives at $99, but Gemini costs extra

The $99 Google Home Speaker lands on June 25, but the AI features that make it worth buying sit behind a Google Home Premium paywall. Google has finally made a new smart speaker, its first in roughly six years. The more interesting thing it has made is a reason to pay it every month. The Google Home Speaker costs $99.99, opens for preorder today and ships on June 25. It is the first audio device built around Gemini for Home, Google's replacement for the ageing Assistant. On paper it is a tidy upgrade: 360-degree sound from a single 58mm driver, roughly 2.5 times the bass of the old Nest Mini, four colours and a chip with enough local processing to filter out background noise. The free speaker that isn't quite free Here is the catch. The $99 buys you conversation, quick answers and smart-home control. The features Google spent the launch talking up do not come with it. Gemini Live's free-flowing chat, Camera History Search for your Nest cameras, and Home Briefs that summarise what happened at home all require Google Home Premium, which costs $10 a month, or $20 for the tier with 24/7 camera recording. Every speaker comes with six months of Premium free, which is generous. After that, the device most people actually wanted becomes a subscription. Selling an assistant it's still fixing There is a trust problem too. Gemini for Home has been in early access since October, and some users complained it handled simple commands worse than the Assistant it replaces. Google says it has made more than 2,500 fixes since, and that 3.5 million homes have opted in. The pitch is that Gemini can now handle messy, real speech, the kind where you say "turn off the coffee maker, I meant turn it on" and it keeps up. Everyone is doing this Google is not alone in turning the smart speaker into a subscription funnel. Amazon's revamped Echo line runs on Alexa Plus, free for Prime members but pricey otherwise, and Apple is readying a Siri-powered HomePod mini. The cheap speaker is becoming the easy part. The recurring AI bill behind it is the real product, and Google is betting you will not mind paying once the six months run out.

The first Google Home Speaker in years has Gemini, costs $99, and arrives soon

Google's first smart speaker in years is finally here. Or, it will be when it launches on June 25, anyway. Google finally gave us all the details on the new Google Home Speaker, which it says is the first smart speaker in its portfolio that was built with Gemini AI commands in mind. The device costs $99 and comes in four colors: Hazel, Porcelain, Jade, and Berry. The news from Google also confirms a leak from earlier this month, though now we have additional details and photos. As expected, since Google first teased the product last year, this is very similar to the old Nest line of smart speakers in appearance, but it is now a Gemini-powered device. That means it can (theoretically) take natural-language commands that are more complex than what the old Google Assistant devices could do. One example given in Google's press release was "turn off all the lights except my bedside lamp." You'll also be able to string multiple commands together in one sentence. The main problem with all of this is that $99 doesn't get you access to everything this speaker can do. If you want all the tricks, you'll need a Google Home Premium subscription (which starts at $10/mo) in order to access conversations with Gemini Live or to ask about things happening on any Nest cameras you have installed. There's also a Home Brief feature that can catch you up on anything that happened around the house while you've been gone, but that seems to be locked behind Home Premium, too. On the plus side, users who already have a subscription to Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription plans will automatically get access to Google Home Premium at no extra cost. If you're on the more expensive AI Ultra plan, you'll additionally get access to Google Home Premium Advanced, also at no extra cost. One potential issue here is the efficacy of AI voice commands. Last year, users of previous Google Home products complained about Gemini being worse at taking commands than Google Assistant was. It's been a year, and this is a new generation of more powerful hardware, so that doesn't necessarily mean the new Home Speaker will succumb to these same problems. However, Google may need to earn back some goodwill with the new speaker

Google's new $99 Home Speaker packs 360-degree audio and lets you talk to Gemini

However, its most advanced AI-based features are locked behind a monthly subscription. After six years of waiting, Google has finally released a new smart speaker. The $99 Google Home Speaker is available for pre-order starting today and hits shelves on June 25, 2026. At the core of the speaker is Google's conversational AI assistant: Gemini. With Gemini, you can now hold natural, multi-step conversations with the speaker rather than issuing individual commands. It understands natural phrasing and logic, so you can speak more naturally without phrasing everything like a voice command. What does the Google Home Speaker actually sound like? Beyond the Gemini AI layer, the smart speaker produces 360-degree output from a 58mm full-range driver, firing audio in all directions. The driver is twice as large as the one in the Nest Mini, along with more prominent bass. Recommended Videos You can pair two speakers together to create a stereo setup or link them with a Google TV Streamer to create a spatial surround sound home theater arrangement. A light ring beneath the speaker glows to show when Gemini is listening, thinking, or responding, replacing the four hidden dots that the Nest Audio used. The speaker doubles as a Matter controller, meaning it can directly manage and connect smart home devices more without extra hubs. It also features a privacy switch at the bottom for disabling the microphones. You can buy the speaker in four colors: Porcelain, Hazel, Jade, and Berry. Two of those finishes, Jade and Berry, are exclusive to the US. What AI features require a subscription? This is the more complicated part. While the free version of Gemini on the Home Speaker handles conversation, smart home control, and general questions, the features that differentiate this one from other smart speakers on the market are locked behind a monthly subscription. These include Gemini Live for free-flowing conversations, Camera History Search for asking what your Nest cameras captured, and Home Briefs for a daily summary of activity around your house. All of these features require a Google Home Premium subscription, which starts at $10 per month for the Standard plan or $20 per month for the Premium plan. Every Home Speaker purchase includes a six-month trial of Home Premium Standard, a meaningful addition at launch, but a recurring cost to factor in after the trial ends.

The long-awaited Google Home Speaker could be the smartest upgrade your home gets this year

Conversational assistant will get you chatting more to your tech It's been six long years since Google loyalists were last treated to a new smart speaker, but that wait will soon be over: the new Google Home Smart Speaker is finally up for pre-order, and devices will start shipping as early as next week. The compact speaker, which was built from the ground up for Google's smarter Gemini voice assistant, was first revealed back in October. In that time the firm has been hard at work on adding conversational AI that can compete with Amazon's Alexa+ and better integrating the assistant with its other hardware. Each compact, almost-spherical speaker will of course work with Google Home to control any connected smart gadgets. It can also act as a Matter hub. But now it'll be able to provide a spoken summary of what your Nest camera just saw and let you "Go Live with Gemini" for a more interactive, back-and-forth experience rather than the voice activated kitchen timers and light switches many of us use our smart speakers for right now. Google reckons early access users speak to Gemini for Home twice as often as they did Google Assistant. There'll be multiple voice 'personas' to pick from, a bit like how there is on the latest Google Pixel smartphones. More powerful internals promise to speed up thinking time, while three far-field microphones should clearly pick up your voice from across the room. There's of course a mute switch for privacy. A light ring at the base of the speaker then indicates when it's listening, thinking or responding. A lot of features will be locked behind one of two Google Home Premium subscriptions, which are partly geared towards Nest camera owners. A standard membership includes Gemini Live and 30 days of event video history for £8 per month, while premium subscribers get a searchable 60 days of video history and a daily recap of recorded events for £16 per month. A six month trial of the standard tier is being thrown in with every Google Home Speaker until September 30, while anyone already signed up to Google's top-level AI bundles have them included already. The Google Home Speaker's single 58mm full-range driver promises omni-directional listening, courtesy of a downward-firing design. You'll be able to add multiple Home Speakers to speaker groups, either as stereo pairs or as part of a wider multi-room setup. New is the ability to pair one - or two - with a Google TV Streamer, for spatial audio conversion that claims to do a convincing impression of full surround sound. The Google Home Speaker is launching at $100/£100/€120 in Berry, Porcelain, Hazel and Jade colours; the latter two are US exclusives. Each one is made from 37% recycled materials, including a yarn wrap made using a 3D knitting process that reduces fabric waste. Pre-orders are open right now via the Google store, with speakers shipping from June 25.