Google Home is back after six years — and Gemini's best tricks cost extra
Google has announced its first new standalone smart speaker in six years — the simply-named Google Home, priced at $99.99 in the US and £99.99 in the UK, launching June 25, 2026. The Nest Audio from 2020 was the last time Google shipped a speaker of this kind, and the new model ditches Google Assistant entirely in favor of Gemini. The catch: the most useful AI features require a paid monthly subscription.
The hardware
The new Google Home replaces the old status LEDs with a light ring at the base of the speaker — a cleaner look that makes it easier to read the device's state at a glance. Google says it delivers 360-degree audio with no dead spots, and two units can be paired for stereo. Hook it up with a Google TV Streamer and you get spatial audio for movie playback.
Four colors are available at launch: Porcelain and Hazel ship in both the US and UK, while Jade and Berry are US exclusives. The device also acts as a Matter controller and Thread Border Router — making it a proper smart-home hub — though it ships with Thread 1.3 rather than the newer 1.4 spec already in the market, per Tech Advisor.
Gemini in, Assistant out
The bigger change is under the hood. Google has built this speaker around Gemini for Home, replacing the old Assistant with a more capable AI model. Gemini handles multi-step commands in plain language — dim the lights, start a jazz playlist, and set a timer in a single sentence — and holds context across a conversation without requiring you to repeat "Hey Google" for every follow-up. Google says the microphone array is tuned to cut through background noise and echo.
What it costs to go premium
The speaker itself is $99.99 / £99.99, and Google is throwing in a six-month free trial of Google Home Premium. After that, the subscription runs $10/month for the standard plan or $20/month for the premium tier (UK equivalents are roughly £8–16/month, according to Tech Advisor). Features like Gemini Live — the free-flowing conversational AI mode — and the Google Home Brief daily summary are locked behind that paywall. Basic smart-home control and media playback remain free.
That subscription model is a meaningful shift. Free smart speakers with capable assistants have been the norm for years; Google is now betting that Gemini is useful enough that people will pay monthly to unlock it. Whether that holds up against Amazon's Alexa ecosystem and Apple's HomePod depends on how well Gemini performs day-to-day, not just in demos.
The Google Home goes up for pre-order June 25, 2026. If you already own a Nest Audio or Nest Hub Gen 2, The Gadgeteer notes those devices will receive a Gemini update too — so an upgrade isn't mandatory, but the new hardware is the only way to get the full package out of the box.