The new Google Home Speaker is a slap in the face to Nest Audio users

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Google is completely revamping its smart home ecosystem around Gemini, and a tiny orb will be the face of the overhaul. It’s the Google Home Speaker , a spherical and stylish speaker that’s made to fit in anywhere in your home. You can use it as a Gemini-powered assistant, a home listening station, or as a stereo pair for your Google TV Streamer. In isolation, the Google Home Speaker looks incredible.

But the more I learn about the Home Speaker, the more questions I have about how it’ll fit into Google’s smart speaker lineup at $100. We already suspected the Home Speaker would leave buyers looking for a Nest Mini alternative high and dry , but that’s not all. Google’s official reveal confirms that the Home Speaker isn’t a direct replacement for the Nest Audio.

And yet, some of the Home Speaker’s best software features won’t make their way to Nest Audio users, forcing them to watch from the sidelines with no clear upgrade path available.

Google’s smart speaker lineup has historically offered something for everyone. There was the Home Mini and Nest Mini in the budget realm, the Google Home and Nest Audio in the middle, and the high-end Google Home Max at the top. These smart speakers didn’t all coexist, and Google discontinued certain models without a direct replacement. However, Google is focusing solely on the new Home Speaker in a way we haven’t seen since the original Google Home debuted in 2016.

Going all-in on the Google Home Speaker is a risk , no matter how good it is. Buyers value sound quality differently, so a single speaker offering doesn’t make sense. The Home Speaker might be too good for Nest Mini owners, but too bad for Nest Audio or Home Max owners.

Amazon, one of Google’s top home competitors, has a gigantic lineup of smart speakers targeting multiple price points and use cases. Even Apple, known for treating digital assistants and the smart home as afterthoughts, has two smart speakers: the second-generation HomePod and the HomePod Mini. With the Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers seemingly going away , the Home Speaker has its work cut out for it.

Honestly, if the Home Speaker is designed to compete with the HomePod Mini, I like Google’s chances. But the Home Speaker isn’t a perfect successor to the Nest Mini or Nest Audio — it’s something new altogether. If you’ve never owned a Google Home or Nest smart speaker, the Home Speaker looks enticing. Compared to other Google speakers, things get weird.