Google is pushing me away from Google Home and toward Alexa

Google has, in quite literal terms, turned into an AI company. But ironically enough, it has evidently and consistently drifted away from that one product category meant to make AI omnipresent: smart speakers. Google’s indifference towards its smart speaker lineup for the better part of the decade and its declining everyday performance have already led people to question their decision to be in the Google Assistant ecosystem.

With no replacement for these models, the new Google Home Speaker is still an unknown amount of time away, and given the current poor state of Google Home/Nest speakers, there is little incentive to stick with them. In comparison, Amazon starts to look like a much more serious alternative — one that doesn’t push you into picking up its one and only option.

There was a time when Google was serious about smart speakers. The era when we had real choice, even within the Google ecosystem, from speakers of varied sizes depending on how big a room you wanted to fill. Heck, there were even two different smart display sizes to choose from. You could get a display for your kitchen to watch recipe videos or put a simpler, screenless smart speaker in your bedroom to set alarms and timers. There was something for everyone — but gone are those good old days.

You already know that Google hasn’t updated any of its smart speakers or displays in several years. But at least those older models were still available. That too is changing now, with the Nest Mini and Nest Audio running out of stock to make way for the new Home Speaker.

The upcoming Google Home speaker is built from the ground up around Gemini and costs $100, the same as the recently announced Amazon Echo Dot Max. That leaves Google with no budget or more premium options around the new Home Speaker, and that’s a problem.

With just a single model to choose from, the Google Home Speaker becomes a no-brainer. It’s the default (and the only) choice that you have in the Google camp. That makes the shopping experience easy, but at the cost of nuance and choice — something that end users actually prefer. I like having the agency to buy the exact device that fits my needs instead of being forced into the only option a company is selling.

The Home Mini and the Nest Mini came out alongside the similarly priced Amazon Echo Dot, all of them frequently available at throwaway prices, to push the idea that you could place one speaker in every room across your house.

Smart speakers back then, and even today, had the sole purpose of being smart and readily available wherever you are, rather than being music-worthy speakers. But if you still wanted high-quality audio and the smartness on the same device, Google did have pricier options.

Today, none of that has survived but one.

I’ve stuck with Google smart speakers for nearly ten years now, but that loyalty can only go so far. It’s almost as if it’s in Google’s DNA to find a new media trend and jump on it while forgetting everything else it was working on. While I had imagined AI would propel Google to work on its smart speaker lineup with renewed dedication, it has instead pushed it in the opposite direction. Amazon, on the other hand, has continued to churn out newer models with full commitment.

It was only a few months ago that Amazon introduced its Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio, which are designed around Alexa+, its agentic spruce-up of the vanilla Alexa experience. You can still get the good-old $50 Echo Dot if you want just the basic AI smarts in your room. Amazon also recently updated its Echo Show lineup with 8- and 11-inch models. I’m not particularly fond of them, especially since they lack YouTube integration, but that’s more of a platform issue that hasn’t stopped Amazon from launching new products year on year.

My favorite Echo speaker, however, is the Echo Spot, which has a tiny color display that shows just the time and other basic details, making it a perfect privacy-forward nightstand accessory without a camera. Then there are fun, kid-friendly variants of these speakers, featuring colorful patterns.

The point is that Amazon offers a broader array of smart speakers, so you’ll find something for yourself, unlike what you’ll find from Google.

Google Assistant has long been the superior option compared to Alexa. It had a better understanding of the web and didn’t always resort to citing Wikipedia when you asked a question. But that comparison isn’t valid anymore in 2026. In fact, it now works even more against Google’s case, since Gemini for smart speakers has so far had a very limited rollout. (It doesn’t seem like Google is very keen on bringing it to me here in India.)

That was the only incentive I had to stay with Google Home speakers, but not anymore. The drying-up stock of the Nest Mini and Nest Audio without a proper replacement is indicative of Google’s neglect for smart speakers as a category. The situation is particularly frustrating for me because neither the new Home Speaker is coming here nor is the new Gemini experience for current models in sight.

Ever since generative AI took over the entirety of Google, smart speakers have been left unattended to the point that their existing experience is only going downhill. I now frequently need to repeat or rephrase my commands for my Google Home Mini to act correctly, which wasn’t the case until a few years ago. Alexa, even without its Plus upgrade, doesn’t face these fundamental issues. On top of that, it is much better at understanding commands in Indian languages, something my mom, who is more comfortable with Hindi, finds useful.

My eagerness to jump to the Alexa camp has little to do with Alexa being the objectively better assistant and more to do with the pitiful state that Google Home speakers are in. The ever-shrinking smart speaker lineup is further evidence that Google is entirely to blame for my decision.