Google Hints At A New Nest Hub

Google says it’s committed to nan smart show category, meaning we whitethorn spot caller versions of its Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max “soon.”

Last week, Google announced a caller smart speaker for its AI-infused Gemini smart location platform, but location was nary motion of a caller smart display. The bully news for fans of Google’s Nest Hubs is that Google Home’s Anish Kattukaran tells The Verge nan institution is “definitely committed to smart displays,” and that they’ll “have news to stock location soon.” 

“It feels for illustration almost nan eventual shape facet to beryllium capable to present a really awesome location experience”

In an question and reply connected The Vergecast this week, Kattukaran explained that smart displays are very overmuch portion of Google’s plans. “[The smart display] does coming itself arsenic an unthinkable shape facet to interact pinch thing for illustration Gemini for Home. If you deliberation astir nan properties of a smart show — a microphone, which intends audio in, a speaker, truthful audio out. It’s sewage a screen, which complements a sound modality, you tin interact pinch it and visualize information.” 

There are besides cameras successful smart displays, he continued, which adds nan imagination portion to nan multi-modality of Gemini. “As I spot wherever Gemini for Home is going and Gemini much broadly … it feels for illustration almost nan eventual shape facet to beryllium capable to present a really awesome location experience. So, that’s why we are going to proceed to put successful that category, truthful I deliberation it’s going to beryllium awesome.”

Amazon intelligibly agrees, having conscionable launched two caller Echo Show smart displays built for its caller Alexa Plus AI assistant. These are much powerful than its erstwhile smart displays, packing a caller AZ3 Pro processor, caller edge-based computing capabilities, and a caller Omnisense fusion level that tin process information locally from smart location sensors. All of which is poised to provender Alexa Plus much context. 

A caller Nest Hub smart show or, much likely, Google Home Hub (Google seems to be retiring nan Nest name outside of cameras and thermostats) would request to beryllium a significant measurement up from its existing smart displays.

Last refreshed successful 2021, nan Nest Hub, with its Soli radar sensor, and its bigger sibling, the Nest Hub Max, which features a camera, are compatible pinch Google’s caller Gemini for Home platform. But moving connected older hardware, neither instrumentality feels for illustration a flagship AI instrumentality for nan location successful 2025.

The Pixel Tablet, which launched successful 2023, felt for illustration an early stab astatine thing much powerful for moving nan smart home, but it was missing excessively galore halfway features and has since been discontinued. 

As a concept, nan smart show has struggled to find a compelling usage case – beyond a integer photograph frame. However, arsenic a multi-modal input strategy for a smarter sound adjunct successful your home, they could yet travel into their own.