Google’s first speaker in six years is really a $10-a-month Gemini subscription

Google has finally made a new smart speaker, its first in roughly six years. The more interesting thing it has made is a reason to pay it every month.

The Google Home Speaker costs $99.99, opens for preorder today and ships on June 25. It is the first audio device built around Gemini for Home, Google’s replacement for the ageing Assistant.

On paper it is a tidy upgrade: 360-degree sound from a single 58mm driver, roughly 2.5 times the bass of the old Nest Mini, four colours and a chip with enough local processing to filter out background noise.

The free speaker that isn’t quite free

Here is the catch. The $99 buys you conversation, quick answers and smart-home control. The features Google spent the launch talking up do not come with it.

Gemini Live’s free-flowing chat, Camera History Search for your Nest cameras, and Home Briefs that summarise what happened at home all require Google Home Premium, which costs $10 a month, or $20 for the tier with 24/7 camera recording.

Every speaker comes with six months of Premium free, which is generous. After that, the device most people actually wanted becomes a subscription.

Selling an assistant it’s still fixing

There is a trust problem too. Gemini for Home has been in early access since October, and some users complained it handled simple commands worse than the Assistant it replaces.

Google says it has made more than 2,500 fixes since, and that 3.5 million homes have opted in. The pitch is that Gemini can now handle messy, real speech, the kind where you say “turn off the coffee maker, I meant turn it on” and it keeps up.

Everyone is doing this

Google is not alone in turning the smart speaker into a subscription funnel. Amazon’s revamped Echo line runs on Alexa Plus, free for Prime members but pricey otherwise, and Apple is readying a Siri-powered HomePod mini.

The cheap speaker is becoming the easy part. The recurring AI bill behind it is the real product, and Google is betting you will not mind paying once the six months run out.