{"slug": "googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription", "title": "Google’s first speaker in six years is really a $10-a-month Gemini subscription", "summary": "Google announced its first new smart speaker in six years, the $99 Google Home Speaker, which ships June 25. The device is built around Gemini for Home, but key features like Gemini Live and Home Briefs require a $10/month Google Home Premium subscription after a six-month free trial. Google is betting users will pay for the AI-powered features, following Amazon and Apple in turning smart speakers into subscription products.", "body_md": "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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nOn 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.\n\n## The free speaker that isn’t quite free\n\nHere 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.\n\nGemini 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.\n\nEvery speaker comes with six months of Premium free, which is generous. After that, the device most people actually wanted becomes a subscription.\n\n## Selling an assistant it’s still fixing\n\nThere 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.\n\nGoogle 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.\n\n## Everyone is doing this\n\nGoogle 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\n## Get the TNW newsletter\n\nGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription", "canonical_source": "https://thenextweb.com/news/google-home-speaker-gemini-99-subscription", "published_at": "2026-06-17 14:27:58+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-17 14:57:13.890870+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-agents", "large-language-models", "ai-startups", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Google", "Gemini", "Nest", "Amazon", "Apple", "HomePod mini", "Alexa Plus"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/googles-first-speaker-in-six-years-is-really-a-10-a-month-gemini-subscription.jsonld"}}