5 things the new Google Home Speaker needs before I’ll buy it

It’s been a while since Google released a new smart speaker, but that’s set to change in the very near future. Just about five years after the Nest Audio launched in October 2020, word on the street is that Google will soon debut the “Google Home Speaker.”

Google first teased its new speaker in August during the Pixel 10 launch event, while subsequent leaks have confirmed its existence and indicated that it’s almost certainly being released before the end of the year.

I’m eager to see what Google’s new smart speaker has to offer, but before I rush out and buy one for myself, there are a few key things it has to get right.

My apartment used to be filled with Google Assistant speakers. I had two Nest Audios in my office, a Nest Hub in my bedroom, a Lenovo Smart Display in my kitchen, and a couple of Nest Minis in other rooms.

However, I gradually abandoned all my Google Assistant speakers for Alexa ones. Whether it was the Assistant telling me it didn’t understand a question, mishearing a command for something else entirely, or struggling to do something as simple as turn a smart light on/off, I eventually reached my breaking point with Google Assistant.

Google has confirmed that Gemini is coming to existing Google Home devices on October 1, which means this new speaker will likely ship with Gemini available out of the box. And assuming it does, Gemini will have to be more reliable and accurate in a way Google Assistant never was. Gemini needs to answer questions and commands quickly and consistently. It needs to be an assistant that I can rely on. More than anything, that’s the biggest hurdle the new Google Home Speaker has to overcome.

As crucial as Gemini’s execution is for the Google Home Speaker, there’s another aspect that Google has to get right: audio quality.

From what we’ve seen of the speaker, it’ll be much smaller than Google’s Nest Audio and will more closely resemble something like the Apple HomePod mini. A physically smaller speaker doesn’t bode well for good audio quality, but it also doesn’t doom Google’s upcoming speaker.

For one thing, the HomePod mini is proof that you can create a smaller speaker and still deliver high-quality audio. Additionally, one of the Google Home Speaker leaks has suggested that it will support “360 audio” — something Apple also touts for its miniature HomePod.

If the new Google Home Speaker can match or surpass the audio quality of the Nest Audio, that’ll be a big win. And, given what we’ve heard so far about the new speaker, it appears that’s what we’re getting.

Whether you place them in your bedroom, living room, or office, smart speakers are often a prominent fixture of any room in your home. And as such, you should be able to buy it in a color that suits you and your personal taste.

Google understood this assignment well with the Nest Audio, offering the speaker not only in white and black colors, but also in shades of green, blue, and pink. Although we’ve only seen the new Google Home Speaker in white from Google’s official tease,  it looks like more colors are in the works.

When the Nest Audio launched in 2020, Google’s latest smartphone was the Pixel 5, the OG Pixel Buds had launched just a few months prior, and the Pixel Watch was still a figment of our imagination.

In 2025, Google’s hardware portfolio looks completely different. The Pixel 10 series, Pixel Buds 2a, and Pixel Watch 4 are all impressive enough on their own, but they also work seamlessly together as part of a cohesive ecosystem. And with the new Google Home Speaker, I hope we see it integrated into that ecosystem.

How so? I’d love to see something similar to how the HomePod and iPhone work together, where you can place your phone near the speaker to seamlessly transfer audio between the two. What if timers you set on the Google Home Speaker could also appear on your Pixel phone? Maybe the Google Home Speaker could read aloud notifications if your Pixel phone is nearby?

There are a lot of clever things Google could do here, and I hope the company goes the extra mile to actually do so.

Last but certainly not least, there’s one more thing the new Google Home Speaker needs to get right: a competitive price.

Assuming the Google Home Speaker serves as a direct replacement for the Nest Audio, which it seems like it will, it’s safe to assume the new speaker will retain the Nest Audio’s $100 price tag. For context, that’s the same price as the HomePod mini and the Amazon Echo.

While an even lower price would be great to see, I think so long as Google holds onto the $100 asking price, the Google Home Speaker will be in a good spot. What Google needs to avoid is creeping up to $125 or $150. I don’t think that will happen, though there’s a slim chance Google could try to justify a price increase with its new Gemini smarts or the current state of the economy.