Google is officially retiring the Home Max
Say goodbye to the Home Max, Google’s original large smart speaker meant to provide HiFi audio. The company has shared with Engadget that it is no longer manufacturing the device and that it’s sold out of the last few units on the Google Store. Existing users will still see support for the foreseeable future, and there are no plans to end support for this or the original Google Home.
The Home Max launched in 2017 for $399, offering dual 4.5-inch high-excursion woofers and two custom tweeters. But unlike the earlier Google Home products though, the company’s more recent speakers like the Nest Audio were designed to provide high-quality audio even in smaller bodies. The Nest Audio has a dedicated 75mm woofer and 19mm tweeter, and comes with software designed to provide better sound with those components.
Retiring the Home Max now makes sense, since you can get two Nest Audios for about the same price and achieve similar, if not better, sound quality. Though, if you were lucky enough recently you might have scored a Home Max at $179.
Google stressed that “Existing Google Home Max users shouldn’t worry as they won’t see any change in their service. We’ll continue to offer software updates and security fixes to Google Home Max devices. We’re committed to delivering great sound and whole home audio features across all of our Assistant-enabled products.”
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