Google Home, launched in November 2016, is one of the more widely popular smart speakers with decent audio quality. Lately, there are quite a few leaks about its successor. According to Roland Quandt, the Google Home successor will go on sale by the end of this month.
Since Google decided to launch its new hardware products under its Nest branding, the upcoming smart speaker is rumored to be called “Nest Speaker.” This new smart speaker from Google is codenamed as J2 and will likely retail for about €100 (approx. $118).
Google’s new Nest Speaker launching later this month
The pricing seems to be much lower than the €149 price tag of the Google Home. The FCC listing has already confirmed the model number of the Nest Speaker as GXCA6. In Europe, the upcoming Nest Speaker will be available in Charcoal and Chalk color options.
Interestingly, the company’s official teaser featured its new smart speaker in Blue and Pink colors. Unlike its predecessor, the new Nest Speaker comes completely covered in fabric. In terms of design, it looks entirely different from the original Google Home.
The original Google Home had more of a tapered cylindrical shape. Whereas this new design is a rectangular shape.
It can be placed vertically or horizontally
Just like the Google Home Max, the Nest Speaker can stand vertically or horizontally. When laid down, it even looks identical to the Google Home Max from the top. As seen on Google’s other smart speakers, the Nest Speaker also features a power button and microphone switch.
Speaking of the upgrades, it could feature larger drivers for a much better audio output than the Google Home. In terms of connectivity, the FCC listing revealed the support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. However, the basic features will mostly remain the same as other smart speakers from Google.
The Google Assistant support on this speaker will undoubtedly give it an x-factor over the competition. Compared to Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant can be more personalized with all the data from the linked Android smartphones. As per the Strategy Analytics report, both Amazon and Google are only competing with the Chinese companies in the smart speaker segment.
Outside of China, both these companies are creating a monopoly in the smart speaker market. The Nest Speaker launch should be able to close the gap between the market share of Amazon and Google. While Apple Siri is also in the competition, it needs more than one smart speaker to catch up with the other two companies.