Google Home Speaker: Your ultimate handbook

It’s been a six-year wait, but Google has finally launched its new Gemini-powered smart speaker.

It was first shown off (accidentally or on purpose) during the Pixel 10 launch event as a background item, but wasn’t acknowledged in any way. Since then Google has made the Home Speaker official, so we have all the details on it.

The smart speaker now ditches the Nest branding (but Google is 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 didn’t even go on sale the year it was announced, 2025, but you can finally order one now.

When is the Google Home Speaker release date?

The long wait for the Google Home Speaker was then followed by a long wait for it to arrive and we finally have a release date of 25 June.

This matches the leaked date BestBuy Canada posted on its listing for the speaker and means the device narrowly squeezes into the original ‘Spring 2026’ launch window.

You can pre-order it now from the official UK and US stores, and no doubt it will also be available from the usual third-party retailers.

Note: The Nest Mini and Nest Audio are now officially discontinued.

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. In Europe the speaker costs €119.

Every purchase of a Google Home Speaker comes with a 6-month trial of Home Premium Standard (until 30 Sep 2026).

In the US, there are four colours to choose from: Porcelain, Hazel, Jade and Berry. However, the UK only get the first two.

There’s just one model, but Google could well launch a ‘Max’ type version in future at a higher price.

Google Home Speaker: What’s new?

Gemini, including Live

The big news, though very unsurprising, is that Google is replacing the Google Assistant with Gemini AI on all of its smart home products. For those with existing devices, you can sign up for early access now.

“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.

Google says there are over 50 new and improved features and you can do things like combine your requests, correct a mistake as you’re talking and use basic logic such as “Turn off everything apart from the bedroom lamp,” and the system will understand what you mean.

For those with additional devices, such as cameras, you can ask Gemini for a summary of the day when you get home and it can reel off who left and arrived at what times as well as what your pet got up to.

This feature is called Home Brief and you can also ask where someone or a pet is and find out if a camera can see them.

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. The ‘3D net’ is made from 87% recycled material and there’s no glue involved.

Frustratingly, while the Home Speaker arrives in four colours – Jade, Berry, Porcelain and Hazel – but as mentioned earlier, 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 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.

Are old Nest devices still supported?

Fortunately, yes. This isn’t the kind of launch where all the old hardware stops working and becomes expensive paperweights.

Google is still supporting every existing Nest speaker and display ever launched with Gemini for Home back to the original 2026 Google Home, though there is some nuance as to which supports what – mainly Gemini Live – so here’s a rundown.

Speakers and displays supported for Gemini for Home with Gemini Live:

• Nest Audio
• Nest mini (2nd Gen)
• Nest Hub Max
• Nest Hub (2nd Gen)

Speakers and displays supported for basic Gemini for Home:

• Google Home
• Google Home Mini
• Google Home Max
• Google Home Hub
• Google Wifi Point

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 and since then, the Google Home Display model name has been spotted.