Google is apparently going to launch a new Nest-branded smart speaker in the near future. 

The new Google Assistant speaker is codenamed 'Prince' and it will apparently be a standard smart speaker to sit alongside the Nest Mini, Nest hub and Google Home Max. 

It sounds like the speaker will be along the same lines as the existing Google Home smart speaker but will have beefed-up sound - 9to5Google's source suggests it will "be in a similar vein to the Sonos One". We'd have thought stereo pairing with other Nest speakers is a shoe-in. 

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Google Home

The native Google experience is really smooth. 

We would suggest the speaker could be a rival to the Amazon Echo Studio, but we think it much more likely it will sit in the sub-$100/£100 segment to replace the original Google Home, originally released in 2016 at the same time as Google WiFi and Chromecast Ultra. 

The timing for the release of this device is unclear - Gooogle appears to have delayed the release of the Pixel 4a phone and some rumours even suggest a late-year launch for the mid-range phone. Certainly, while others are pressing on with launches, Google's launch plans appear to be in disarray. 

We're also expecting Google to launch a revamped Chromecast, too.