Google directly offering some Assistant users a ‘Special Discount’ on the Home Mini

Abner Li | Sep 13 2021 - 4:02 pm PT

Despite being almost four years old and having a successor, the Google Home Mini is still on sale. One measure to get rid of them is a “Google Assistant Special Discount” where you can get a Home Mini for $9.99.

As implied by the name, this “Special Discount” is actually delivered through Google Assistant on Android. Upon activating, a card appears above the bottom sheet:

Get a Google Home Mini for $9.99

It’s meant to be a “thank you for using Google Assistant.” This “special discount” takes $39.01 off the Home Mini on the Google Store. Ironically, the advertised “Coral” color is out of stock, with Chalk, Charcoal, and Aqua available.

This deal has been floating around for quite some time, but more than a few people are now encountering it after opening Assistant. Google is presumably checking whether you already have Smart Displays/speakers associated with your account. There’s some enthusiasm for this deal, but it’s unfortunate that Google isn’t offering the Nest Mini at that price. Meanwhile, others do not appreciate the ad-like nature with this offer more than deliverable over email.

The latest generation affordable Assistant speaker from 2019 offers 2x stronger bass, a third microphone, and machine learning chip that allows frequent commands to be processed locally for faster responses. That said, it drops the micro-USB port for a barrel-type connector.