The Google Home Speaker’s ‘delay’ isn’t just a good thing, it’s what you wanted

Alongside Google’s Gemini for Home push this week, the company also unveiled its Google Home Speaker, but it’s not coming until next year. That “delay” has drawn some criticism, but it’s actually a good thing.

The Google Home Speaker is the company’s first new smart speaker since 2020’s Nest Audio, with the only other “Hey Google” device released since then being the second-generation Nest Hub released in 2021.

And, put frankly, things have been pretty rough as of late.

Google Assistant has been crumbling in recent years, in part due to the heavy focus on Gemini. Users have had understandable complaints about Google’s smart speakers and displays as, often times, voice commands simply do not work. “Sorry, I didn’t understand” is perhaps the most common response from a Google Assistant smart speaker over the past year especially, closely followed by “I can’t do that.”

It got to the point that Google had to apologize and tease the arrival of Gemini. It’s madness.

So, it makes complete sense that Google held off on any new hardware that relied on its crumbling assistant. Any such product would have rightfully been ripped to shreds by critics and users alike. But, finally, there’s a new one in the pipeline.

Coming in “Spring 2026,” the Google Home Speaker will be the company’s first smart speaker centered around Gemini. But, many are wondering why it’s not coming until next year, and there’s been plenty of criticism mixed in with that curiosity.

It’s a good choice on Google’s part.

Google has announced that Gemini is coming to the past decade of its smart home products, including the original Google Home. That’s huge, and it starts right away. Users can sign up for Gemini access via the Google Home app and their speakers and smart displays will get Gemini features starting later in October, at least in the US.

• When is Gemini for Home rolling out: Schedule, countries, early access

And that’s a key point here. It’s only coming in “early access.” Gemini for Home isn’t “done” yet, but Google is opening up access for existing devices. This gives the company a chance to deliver the product in a timely manner, but also iron out the bugs before mass adoption rolls out. With millions of speakers out in the wild and in the hands of “casual” users, that’s a wise move. Assistant, as mentioned, is a mess right now, but it’s technically still more stable and familiar than Gemini might be.

Many have asked the same basic question for years – if the thing isn’t ready, why bother launching the product now? “Why am I the beta tester?”

Google is finally saying, yes, the thing – in this case being Gemini on speakers – is not fully ready. So instead of launching a speaker today that won’t get the features people expect, Google is going to test those features with existing devices and with users who manually opt in to try it.

Quite literally, this is what we’ve been asking for.

What do you think?

More on Google Home:

• This is Gemini for Home and the redesigned Home app, rollout starts today 
• Gemini for Google Home features coming to ADT later, remains on Nest Aware for now
• When is Gemini for Home rolling out: Schedule, countries, early access

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