WIRED has updated its smart speaker recommendations for July 2026, adding Google’s new $100 Home Speaker and putting a familiar caveat back on the table: the speaker is only half the purchase. The assistant, the phone you use, and the subscription hooks around the device decide how useful it is once it is sitting in your kitchen.
The guide frames the market around three companies: Amazon, Google and Apple. Amazon has the broadest hardware bench, helped by years of Echo releases since the first Echo arrived in 2014. Google and Apple offer narrower lines, though Google has now shipped its first new smart speaker in years, according to WIRED.
Google’s new speaker gets the Gemini treatment
WIRED names the Google Home Speaker its best pick for Google users. The publication rates it 8 out of 10 and says it costs $100 at Best Buy and the Google Store. The device borrows the name of Google’s 2016 speaker, while its compact rounded shape recalls Apple’s HomePod Mini, according to WIRED. It also has tap controls and color options reminiscent of the older Google Nest Mini.
The larger shift is software. WIRED says Google’s current smart speakers, except the Pixel Tablet with charging dock, now use Gemini by default instead of Google Assistant. The reviewer found Gemini more natural-sounding than older assistants and said it could handle schedule questions and clarify music requests when multiple artists had recorded the same song. The complaint, because there is always one, is that Gemini can talk too much.
Google’s base Gemini for Home service is free, but WIRED notes that some of the more useful AI and camera features sit inside Google Home Premium. The Standard plan costs $10 a month or $100 a year and includes 30 days of event-based video history, intelligent alerts, Gemini Live and an AI tool for building household routines. The Advanced plan costs $20 a month or $200 a year and adds longer video history, descriptive notifications, searchable video, event descriptions and daily summaries.
Amazon’s best small speaker is no longer cheap-small
For Alexa users, WIRED picks Amazon’s Echo Dot Max, a $100 speaker launched in late 2025. The guide says it keeps the compact Dot format but adds stronger audio, a built-in smart home hub, support for Alexa and Alexa+, and better microphones that can hear requests even while music is playing loudly.
WIRED also points out the subscription math around Alexa+. Amazon includes Alexa+ with Prime, while standalone access costs $20 a month. A regular Prime plan is listed at $15 a month, making the assistant alone more expensive than the bundle, which is the kind of pricing design that does not require a decoder ring.
The guide says older Echo Dot models remain supported, though not all can run Alexa+. WIRED suggests the fifth-generation Echo Dot may make more sense for buyers who do not need the Dot Max’s upgraded sound.
Apple and displays round out the list
WIRED lists Apple’s HomePod Mini as its Apple pick at $129. The excerpted recommendation gives fewer details on Apple’s speaker than on Google’s and Amazon’s hardware, beyond naming it the best option for Apple users.
For screen-based devices, WIRED favors Google’s $229 Nest Hub Max and Amazon’s $220 Echo Show 11. The Nest Hub Max has a 10-inch display, Google Photos support, two 10-watt tweeters, a 30-watt woofer, a camera for video calls and gesture controls, according to the guide. WIRED likes that it does not show Amazon-style display ads, while noting that its camera lacks a physical cover, though it can be disabled.
The Echo Show 11 adds an 11-inch screen, camera, built-in smart home hub and spatial audio support. WIRED says it sounds better than Amazon’s newer $180 Echo Show 8, but flags on-screen ads and preset content that users may need to turn off.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
