Google killed Assistant. The Google Home Speaker (Gemini-powered) is a $99 smart speaker, now on pre-order at Best Buy and the Google Store, shipping spring 2026. Four colors — Porcelain, Hazel, Berry, Jade. 360° audio, a light ring that pulses when Gemini is listening or thinking, and a 3D-knit recycled fabric shell. Pair two with a Google TV Streamer for surround. This is Google’s first Gemini-native home hardware, not a Nest Mini with a new voice layer.
The paywall nobody saw coming
The $99 buys you the shell. Gemini Live — the multi-turn conversational layer that’s the whole reason to upgrade — requires a Google Home Premium subscription. Standard is $10/month, Advanced $20/month. r/GoogleHome is split on whether this catches Alexa+ or got lapped before it shipped.
What an agent can actually do with it
It’s fully API-interactive. Developers use the Google Home Developer SDK to call Device, Structure, Automation, and Commissioning APIs — plus Matter — to control the speaker, read home state, and trigger Gemini-driven routines. The Automation API now supports conversational routine creation and intelligent triggers (“Did the kids leave bikes in the driveway?”). An agent with Gemini API plus Home tools can issue commands, monitor routine outcomes, and chain actions across the 800M+ devices already in the Works with Google Home ecosystem.
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