Google Teased New Smart Speaker During its Made by Google Event

Google briefly showed a new smart speaker during its Made by Google event on Wednesday, but it was quite easy to miss. The livestream itself, which took the form of a talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon, was really boring to watch, but the new smart speaker was shown for a couple of seconds during a Gemini live segment featuring F1 driver Lando Norris.

Google did confirm during the event that its Gemini assistant will replace the legacy Google Assistant on the company’s Nest speakers and smart displays, which haven’t been updated in years. This new “Gemini for Home” experience “offers reliable, hands-free help and can manage complex tasks across all of your home devices,” explained Google Home & Nest chief product officer Anish Kattukaran.

Google said that Gemini for Home will launch in preview in early October, but the company left the new hardware question unaddressed. However, the folks over at Android Headlines claim to have seen additional images of the speaker, and they also shared more details about its expected features.

According to the report, the new speaker will offer new natural voices for Google’s Gemini assistant. The speaker will be able to sense when users are in proximity and detect unusual sounds to send notifications about potential dangers.

Google will also make it possible to pair the speaker with a Google TV streamer, similar to what Apple TV users can do with a HomePod. Lastly, Google’s new smart speaker is expected to work as a Matter-enabled smart home hub.

Google will reportedly offer the new speaker in four colours including bright red, light green, black, and porcelain. It’s not clear when the company plans to announce the new speaker, but some of the new devices the company announced on Wednesday, such as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Pixel Watch 4 won’t start shipping until October. This is in line with the planned release date for the Gemini for Home assistant.