Google Home Hub leak points to an Assistant-touting smart speaker with a 7-inch screen

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By David Lumb
published

The price is said to be just a tad more than the Google Home

Google may be making its own smart speaker with a seven-inch LCD touchscreen that looks like someone stuck a tablet on a shrunken Google Home Max, according to a new leak today.

Sure, the Lenovo Smart Display launched in the US in July and UK release date is next month, but we’re now seeing evidence of a Google’s own Assistant-supporting smart speaker-and-screen device from MySmartPrice.

This backs up all of the rumors of a Google smart speaker-and-display that emerged last month, so today’s leak isn’t a total surprise. The Google Home Hub’s screen has a somewhat thick bezel filled with sensors, but not a camera, so don’t expect to make video calls with it. 

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The tablet’s backside has a microphone-muting switch, while the rectangular base has a speaker wrapped in the same Chalk White cloth as the rest of the Google Home line. Reports state that it will also come in dark gray ‘charcoal’ hue. 

The Home Hub will allegedly be coming out later this year and it will be priced at $149 (around £113 or $206 AUD today), according to additional reporting by Android Authority. This puts it a bit above the basic Google Home price but well below the premium Google Home Max price. It’s also cheaper than Lenovo’s Smart Display for the 8-inch model.

The Google Home Hub may only run on Google Assistant, with no other mobile operating system, according to the leak. Despite the screen, Google seems to be positioning the device as primarily voice, not display-controlled. It will allegedly work with over 5,000 smart devices: As an example provided in the alleged press materials, users can ask it to display the feed from their Nest camera. It will also link up to Google Photos, allowing users to summon their images from the cloud, as well as play tunes from YouTube Music, Spotify and Pandora.

It’s unclear when or even if we’ll hear official word about the Home Hub, but it’s a good bet that an announcement will come during Google’s annual hardware event on October 9, when we expect to see the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL unveiled. Previous rumor suggested that Google was hustling to ship 3 million of the Home Hub devices in time for the holidays.

David Lumb
David Lumb

David is now a mobile reporter at Cnet. Formerly Mobile Editor, US for TechRadar, he covered phones, tablets, and wearables. He still thinks the iPhone 4 is the best-looking smartphone ever made. He's most interested in technology, gaming and culture – and where they overlap and change our lives. His current beat explores how our on-the-go existence is affected by new gadgets, carrier coverage expansions, and corporate strategy shifts.