Google’s First Smart Speaker in Six Years Finally Ships Next Week

Google’s first new smart speaker in half a decade finally has a ship date. The Google Home Speaker starts arriving on June 29th — technically spring, if you squint hard enough at the calendar. Preorders open today, June 17th.

Nothing has changed hardware-wise since the $99 speaker was announced nine months ago. Same slightly squished round design, same touch-capacitive buttons on top, same light ring at the bottom that tells you it’s listening or thinking or whatever. Four colors: porcelain (white), hazel (black), jade (green), and berry (red). The last two are US-only, which feels like a weird restriction for a speaker in 2026, but okay.

The real story here isn’t the hardware — it’s what’s inside. This is Google’s first smart speaker built for Gemini for Home, their AI assistant that’s supposed to be smarter than the old Google Assistant. I’ve been testing Gemini on other devices, and it’s a mixed bag. Sometimes it nails context that the old assistant would have fumbled. Other times it over-explains or just refuses to do simple things like set a timer without a lecture.

Still, six years is a long time between smart speaker launches. Amazon has flooded the market with Echo variants, Apple’s HomePod is quietly ticking along, and Google’s own Nest lineup has been doing the heavy lifting. A dedicated Google Home Speaker feels like Google saying, “We’re still in this game.”

The $99 price point is aggressive, especially compared to the HomePod Mini at $99 and the Echo Dot at $49. But if Gemini for Home is genuinely better than what Nest Audio users have been stuck with, it could justify the premium. I’m skeptical until I see reviews, though. Google’s track record with smart home hardware is solid, but their software promises often take months to materialize.

I’ll be ordering one in jade, because green speakers are rare and I’m a sucker for color. Let’s see if Google can make up for lost time.