Leak Claims Google Home and 4K Chromecast Will Cost $129 and $69

Max Buondonno September 23, 2016

Following today’s report of a possible new Wi-Fi router from Google, Android Police has released an article which claims to have leaked the prices of Google’s upcoming Home assistant which is powered by the Google Assistant and 4K-enabled Chromecast ‘Ultra’. Both of these products are rumored to be launched at the currently scheduled October 4th Google event where the Pixel phones will make their initial debut as well.

Regarding the Google Home, this voice assistant will reportedly cost $129, the same as the above linked Wi-Fi router currently in talks to launch soon. This is $50 less than Amazon’s Echo which makes the Home look more appealing to many’s wallets, however it is $80 more than the Echo Dot which grants user’s access to Amazon Alexa for under $50. Of course, Home includes built-in speakers which the Echo Dot doesn’t have, so there is some exception in this area. Nevertheless, the Home appears to be priced pretty fairly. With its level of customization and powerfulness, you’d think it’d be on par with the pricing Amazon gave the Echo at $179, however I suppose Google was able to cut a few corners design wise and make a product that costs under $150 that’s practically just as useful as Echo. Overall, it may be hard for Amazon to compete with this pricing Google will give Home, so we’ll have to see what the future has in store for Alexa’s home base.

Touching on the 4K Chromecast, AP claims this variant of the ever-so-popular Chromecast will go for $69. This is twice as much as the standard Chromecast goes for today, so it’ll be interesting to see how people will react to this. Of course, with the addition of 4K output and the rumored HDR features, we expect Google to raise the price of the Chromecast at least by $20, so $69 probably isn’t too bad. AP makes sure to note that while the Chromecast ‘Ultra’ will be the successor to the Full HD-capable standard Chromecast, the latter will still be for sale as 4K is still “far from ubiquitous.” Therefore, customers will have the option of 1080p or 4K when they pick up their Chromecast.

With a 9/1 confidence rating, AP strongly expects the 4K Chromecast Ultra to launch at this year’s fall event. As we move closer and closer to the magical date of October 4th, stay tuned to MBEDDED for the latest on what to expect at Google’s next keynote.