Ever since Google entered the smart speaker business, there has been a tough competition between it and Amazon. The Jeff Bezos-owned company was the first to introduce its smart speaker, the Amazon Echo, into the market. It gained popularity and consumers appreciated what the Alexa-powered device had to offer. This is why when Google entered the market, it failed to captivate the market in a way that Amazon had.
Since then, Google has been devising new ways of popularizing its smart speakers with regular updates and introduction of newer features.
In a bid to outpace Amazon's product, Google is now allegedly trying to bring in a mini smart speaker, not unlike the Echo Dot. This smaller variant will cost lesser than its bigger counterpart but will offer most of the features that the other one does.
Why Google may be planning on launching a mini Google Home?
The Echo Dot is essentially much cheaper than the standard Amazon Echo device. The standard one retails for $180, whereas the Echo Dot device retails at just $50. This has given an edge to Amazon consumers as well since people who do not want to spend close to $200 can pay just $50 and still use a smart speaker with all its functionality. Similarly, consumers may also use the lower price tag to buy a number of the Echo Dot devices to ensure that all of the rooms in their house remain connected with each other.
Google may be trying to achieve the same thing with the smaller version of its Google Home. At $129, the Home is cheaper than the Amazon Echo, but it may still be quite a high price tag for some. For these people, Google may want to release a more streamlined and cheaper version, so that people can purchase the devices more freely.
It would also reduce the cost of a person looking to hook up multiple devices at once.
Nothing much regarding its official name or specs is known at this time. It is also uncertain if the newer mini model will have any additional features that the standard variant does not possess. Amazon's Echo Dot does sport some features which its larger counterpart does not boast of.
So, it may seem likely that the mini version of Google Home would also come with some unique features.
Availability and price
Being a rumor, there is no indication of when or if the company will release such a cheaper Google Home product into the market. It is however likely that this new model would be launched alongside the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 sometime in October. Information regarding the pricing and specs would also be unveiled at that time.
