Google changes its $100 home speaker from Assistant to Gemini

Google announced a brand new Google Home Speaker priced at $100, available for preorder starting June 17, shipping June 25. This is their first new smart speaker in six years, and a replacement for the Nest Audio, but the big news isn’t about the speaker itself — it’s that it uses Gemini instead of Google Assistant.

The new speaker is small with a 3D knitted fabric covering made out of recycled materials, an LED ring on the bottom replacing the previous light bar, and “clear 360 degree audio” (not directional audio). You can also daisy chain two speakers together for stereo, or connect one to a Google TV Streamer for stereo audio when watching videos. It will be available in hazel, porcelain, jade, and berry.

1Gemini is the actual upgrade

This is important because of the assistant. Using Gemini instead of Google Assistant lets you issue multiple commands at once, like dimming all the lights in a room, playing some music, and setting a timer, all in one request. It also has improved context awareness and longer term memory, so you don’t have to repeat yourself as much. If you’ve ever yelled at your smart speaker for forgetting what you were saying, this will be a welcome improvement.

But here’s the thing: all the cool stuff is behind a paywall. Google Home Premium costs $10–$20 per month and lets you have live conversations with Gemini, get AI Home Briefs, and access more advanced automations and notifications. The $100 speaker is just the hardware; if you want the real conversational capabilities, you need to sign up for a subscription.

2Why this matters for you

For years I’ve watched the smart speaker space go nowhere. Google Assistant was great at telling me the weather and setting timers, but not much else. A language model in your house might be the first step towards making these things actually useful instead of a glorified remote control. In my opinion, sure the 360 degree audio and sustainable fabric are nice, but they’re not the selling point here. You’re buying this product because you want to know if Gemini is finally ready to take a series of commands in the kitchen. But be careful — a $100 speaker that requires a $10–20 per month subscription to be truly useful is a different product than it appears to be on the surface, so be sure to decide what kind of product you actually want to purchase.