Google kicked off its ambitious smart speaker journey with the launch of the Google Home back in 2016. The company has since unveiled a number of smart speakers in different shapes and sizes. The original Google Home, however, hasn’t received any love since its launch four years ago. That change this year as the company is ready to launch a Nest-branded successor to the original Google Home.
We know this because Google has shared an official first look for its upcoming smart speaker. This follows suit to an FCC listing, which showed off the speakers (yeah, the regulatory filing shows off multiple speakers) in all of its glory. There are a number of design upgrades that we will talk about in a second.
Just like it did with the Pixel 4 when it first leaked online, Google couldn’t control its excitement today and started sharing official pictures, along with a video promo, for its upcoming smart speaker. It leaves behind the dual-tone cylindrical shape of the original Home and brings along a familiar fabric cover. This time it’s covered entirely in fabric with cutouts only for the mute switch and a proprietary 30W power adapter.
Here's the 13 second video they shared with us. pic.twitter.com/TMw9HSeSbC
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) July 10, 2020
The teaser shows off the speaker in blue (attached above) while the FCC listing gives us a look at it in Pink Sand. It also suggests that the upcoming Nest speakers will support stereo pairing (as Google exhibits two of these in the background, playing music) to directly rival Sonos. We don’t know anything about sound or feature upgrades just yet.
Apart from this, the regulatory filing gave us a sneak peek at other different shapes for Nest’s upcoming Home speaker lineup. One is a simple cylindrical speaker while the other is a taller oblong that would fit well in your living room. Google also seems to be working on a Home Max refresh as a bigger speaker has also shown up in the listing.
Though Google officially shared the photo and video teasers, it did not explicitly offer a launch timeframe for these smart speakers. We expect them to go official alongside the Pixel 5 later this year.
Featured Image Courtesy: Twitter/ Mishaal Rehman
