Google has confirmed it will be launching new hardware next week. During parent company Alphabet's financial call with analysts, chief financial officer Ruth Porat said: "we are pleased with the ongoing momentum of Assistant-enabled Home devices, particularly the Home Hub and Mini devices and look forward to our May 7 announcement at [Google] I/O from our hardware team."

That's interesting because although we have been expecting a mid-range Google Pixel 3a to launch imminently thanks to leaks from various sources including Google itself, the fact Porat mentioned new hardware next to Google Assistant suggests we could be expecting new Google Home-based hardware. 

Could we finally get an upgrade to the base Google Home speaker itself or could the company capitalise on the well-received Home Hub with a larger and more powerful Hub device called the Google Nest Hub Max? 

On the Pixel side of things, the numbers aren't so positive - one analyst even suggested to CEO Sundar Pichai that Google's Pixel efforts could end up like Microsoft's Nokia fiasco in what must have been a jaw-dropping moment. 

Pichai suggested that there were "year over year headwinds" for smartphones including Pixel devices but didn't actually elaborate on that. Simply put, Pixel devices seem expensive compared to many other options from the likes of OnePlus and Huawei even though they have some innovative features such as Night Sight.

No wonder Google wants to test the water in the mid-range market with the Pixel 3a - even though that price range is even more competitive in many ways. However, Pichai rightly pointed out that Google's hardware division is still a relatively new team and push for Google.