Google is expected to announce a follow-up to 2017’s Google Home Mini at tomorrow’s hardware event. In keeping with the decision to brand its smart home products under Nest, the new speaker will be called the Google Nest Mini, and photos of the device have now been published by WinFuture.

The Nest Mini looks identical to the Home Mini when on a table. The only signs that it’s a new product are on the bottom, where you can now see a wall mount hole and a different power connector than the Micro USB port from the first model.

Image: WinFuture

And Google has now color-matched the bottom of the speaker closer to the fabric on top. As for those colors, promotional images confirm Google will be bringing back black, light gray, coral, and adding a new light blue option.

Based on this leak, it seems the Google Nest Mini will be a very modest refresh of the company’s entry-level Google Assistant speaker that first debuted two years ago. WinFuture says the Bluetooth has been upgraded to 5.0, however. And other refinements that Google might’ve made here (like improved sound quality) aren’t going to come across in images.

You might remember that Google actually had to permanently disable the capacitive touch area on top of the original Google Home Mini after it was discovered that Assistant was recording customers by itself without any “OK Google” prompts. That left the Mini with controls only on the sides for adjusting volume or snoozing alarms. So I guess my main question is whether the new speaker will finally bring back that top option for easier interactions.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/14/20914114/google-nest-home-mini-assistant-smart-speaker-leaked-photos