Did google just accidentally leak a HomePod Mini competitor?

F1 star Lando Norris sits beside a suspiciously looking smart speaker. | Image credit — The Verge

Now, let’s be perfectly clear: this was a Google event. There is absolutely no chance that the company would use a competitor’s flagship smart speaker as set dressing. That just doesn’t happen. So, what was it? The device we saw was a small, spherical speaker that seems to share the same fabric-covered aesthetic as the rest of Google’s Nest lineup. Its diminutive size, however, immediately brings Apple’s popular compact speaker to mind, which has left us with a lot of questions.

The Apple HomePod Mini has carved out a successful niche for itself by offering surprisingly robust sound and deep Siri integration in a very small footprint. It acts as a smart home hub for HomeKit and fits seamlessly into Apple’s ecosystem. Google’s own Nest Mini is a great, affordable entry point for the Google Assistant, but it has never been praised for its audio prowess. It’s a utility device first and a speaker second. If this mystery device is what we think it is, Google could be preparing to launch a direct competitor to the HomePod Mini—a compact speaker that doesn’t compromise on sound.

I’m of the opinion that this is almost certainly not an accident. Companies know that eagle-eyed fans will scrutinize every frame of their presentations, and this feels like a deliberate, soft tease of a future product. A “Nest Audio Mini,” if you will, would perfectly fill a gap in Google’s current hardware lineup.

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