Google developing a more premium Google Home with stereo speakers?

Amazon announced a redesign of its popular Echo smart speaker yesterday as well as another few products in the Echo range; it looks like the retailer is still gunning for early dominance in the smart speaker market. Not to be outdone, it appears that Google might have another smart speaker project up its sleeve too.

According to a report from 9to5google, Google is said to be working on a new, higher-end version of the Google Home which may go by the name “Google Home Max.” This, unlike its predecessor, would house a stereo speaker setup, a more “premium” design and use higher quality materials.

9to5google said this could compete against the likes of the Sonus Play:3, and said that the unit may have appeared in a focus group held earlier this year alongside “a smaller Google Home,” a “premium Chrome OS laptop,” and other products from the search giant.

Given that Google is holding an event on October 4 to unleash its new Pixel lineup, as well as potentially the new Google Home Mini and Chromebook mentioned above, you might expect that the Google Home Max would appear there also. However, 9to5google said that the timeline for the product’s unveiling wasn’t clear.

Delivering a better speaker setup with the Google Home Max could differentiate the smart speaker from Amazon’s Echo devices, which so far haven’t placed a major emphasis on premium sound quality, as well as increasing the appeal for those who want to use it primarily for listening to music. Flanking the Google Home with both a more expensive and less expensive option, as it seems may happen, would also make sense from a business perspective for Google. All told, it seems like a credible rumor.

What are your thoughts on the prospect of a Google Home Max? Let us know in the comments.