New ‘Nest Audio’ and ‘Nest Hub Max’ spotted in Google Home app

Kyle Bradshaw | Apr 23 2024 - 12:41 pm PT

Things are really heating up for Google’s 2024 hardware releases, and the hits keep coming. In the latest update to the Google Home app, our team has found evidence of a new Nest Audio speaker and, surprisingly, a new Nest Hub Max.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

With the arrival of the Pixel Tablet, complete with a Google Assistant speaker dock, it seemed that the writing was on the wall for the Nest Hub lineup. While there are numerous things that the older Nest Hub series still handles better, the Pixel Tablet manages to be both a solid centerpiece of the smart home and a capable Android tablet.

Despite that, our team has uncovered a new device in the Google Home app (version 3.16) that is explicitly labeled in the code as a “Nest Hub Max,” alongside the previous 2019 model. A closer inspection also confirmed that this upcoming device will use the same Google Assistant smart display software experience as all previous Nest Hubs, meaning it will not use Android.

When Google released the second generation of the Nest Hub, beyond a slight upgrade to the internal hardware, the main upgrade was the inclusion of a Soli sensor for detecting sleep quality. Perhaps we’ll see a similar addition for a second-generation Nest Hub Max.

Elsewhere, the Google Home update also includes signs of a new Nest speaker in the works. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the speaker is simply called “Nest Audio” in the code, just like its 2020 predecessor.

We had previously seen signs of a Nest speaker that was in development and seemingly intended for release last fall. The most notable aspect was that the speaker appeared to have UWB connectivity, similar to what will soon be available for the Pixel Tablet.

However, this hardware effort seemed to hit a roadblock last summer, with Google ditching plans to run the device with its Fuchsia operating system. That being the case, it’s unclear whether this latest Nest Audio is a revival of that earlier hardware or a new project altogether.

Top comment by Carpentractor

Liked by 34 people

Honestly nobody cares if it's Gemini or Assistant, they want it to work and right now Assistant is definitely degrading. If they are doing it intentionally so people will want to "upgrade" to Gemini, they are doing it wrong. It should all be one in the same and should have been steadily improving since Google Now. Obviously it hasn't and that speaks to the poor leadership and culture in place at Google.

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These two devices are also not the only bits of Nest/Google Home hardware on the horizon. This week, we reported that a new 4K Chromecast with Google TV is coming soon, while we’ve previously seen signs of a new Nest Wifi.

More broadly, it’s interesting to see Google prepare new Assistant hardware of any sort. By all indications, the company appears to be all-in on generative AI, with Gemini steadily replacing Assistant on Android devices. Perhaps Google has found a coherent way to bring Gemini to the smart home. Alternatively, the company could be aiming to better differentiate Assistant and Gemini, rather than replacing one with the other.

What do you want to see from a new Nest Hub Max smart display and Nest Audio speaker? Would you prefer to use Gemini or Google Assistant in your smart home? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.