Rumor: Google will introduce smart speaker with screen this year

Google is reportedly working on a smart speaker in its Home series that will have a screen. The company would like to bring the speaker to the market at the end of this year, claims the Japanese newspaper Nikkei.

According to a source from Nikkei Asian Review, Google will initially make 3 million copies of the smart speaker with screen. The newspaper does not give more details, but the report probably mentions that speech will remain the main control and that YouTube videos or the agenda can be viewed on the screen, for example.

Google is making significant strides in the smart speaker market, according to research firm Canalys. In the second quarter of this year, Google is said to have shipped 5.4 million Home speakers, compared to 4.1 million Echo speakers that Amazon shipped. In total, the market would have grown 187 percent in the second quarter.

Google wouldn’t be the first with a smart speaker with a screen. Amazon introduced the Echo Show a year ago. Google itself has developed its Smart Display reference platform for this type of devices and at the beginning of this year the company announced that JBL, Lenovo, Sony and LG will come with these types of devices with the Google Assistant this year. Concrete announcements followed from Lenovo and Archos.

Lenovo Smart Display