I've used Google Home for 10 years, and it's never felt so frustrating

Sigh.

More than anything else in Google’s current product portfolio, Google Home is among the most frustrating. We’re now 10 years into Google’s smart home platform, and while it should feel mature and robust at this stage in its lifecycle, it instead has never felt more precarious.

I say this as someone whose house is built around Google Home. My security cameras, thermostat, smart speakers, and smart displays are all made by Google. It’s the smart home ecosystem I chose years ago, and the one I’ve ultimately stuck with.

But there’s a lingering problem with Google Home: hardware. Google’s smart home hardware ambitions have been a pain point for a while now, but in 2026, they’ve never been more detrimental. Not only is the competition fiercer than ever, but Google just doesn’t seem to know how to respond. And at this point, I’m not sure when it will.

The state of Google Home hardware in 2026

Looking at Google’s current portfolio of smart home gadgets, you’d be led to believe the company has all but given up on making smart home hardware.

Google hasn’t released new battery-powered versions of the Nest Cam or Nest Doorbell since 2021. The Google TV Streamer 4K is over two years old and has only gotten more expensive, with no budget model below it. The most recent Nest Hub smart display is more than five years old, and the current Nest Wifi Pro debuted back in 2022.

We did get the new Google Home Speaker earlier this year, but only after a six-year wait following the Nest Audio’s launch in 2020. And while a new piece of hardware was nice to see, the Home Speaker was ultimately pretty underwhelming — and killed both the Nest Audio and Nest Mini upon its arrival.

Not every smart home gadget needs a new model every single year, but when Google waits up to six years in between product generations, it makes it extremely difficult to have hope for what the company’s long-term ambitions are. As a user, that’s a bad feeling.

It’s also not practical. If my first-generation Google Home Hub dies tomorrow, I can’t go out and buy a replacement. Google still lists the Nest Hub Max and 2nd-gen Nest Hub on the Google Store, but both have been out of stock for a while and likely won’t be back. I’d either have to buy a competing smart display from Apple or Amazon, or cross my fingers and hope the rumored Google Home Display actually launches sometime soon.

That’s just bad business, but it’s the reality of living in Google’s smart home in 2026.

Apple and Amazon are running laps around Google

This would be aggravating enough in a bubble, but the fact is that competition around Google Home has never been more intense.

I know it seems like a lifetime ago given all of the Apple news over the last few weeks, but Apple finally launched its long-awaited HomeView smart display earlier this month. Does it look perfect? No. Is it expensive? Yes. But there’s no denying that an Apple-made smart display is a big deal and will appeal to a lot of people. Plus, with options like wall-mounting, high-end hardware, and a curated software experience, there are genuine reasons to be excited about the HomeView, even if you aren’t an Apple diehard.

And while the HomeView was the star of Apple’s smart home announcements, it’s not the only smart home gadget Apple brought to the table. The company also partnered with LG and Schneider to announce two new smart thermostats, a smart deadbolt, a video doorbell, an outdoor camera, a floodlight camera, and an indoor camera. You could easily argue that these other products are too expensive for what they offer, but seeing such a focused, concentrated effort from Apple gives me faith in the long-term prospects of its smart home ecosystem in a way I haven’t felt from Google in ages.

Amazon is doing an even better job at this. In 2026 alone, Amazon has launched all of the following:

• Ring Battery Doorbell 4K Pro
• Ring Wired Doorbell 4K Pro
• Ring Battery Doorbell 2K Plus
• Ring Battery Doorbell 2K
• Ring Smart Lock
• Ring Indoor Cam 4K
• Ring Outdoor Cam 4K Plus
• Ring Spotlight Cam 4K Plus
• Ring Floodlight Cam 4K Plus
• Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K
• Fire TV Stick 4K (2026)
• Blink Frontier XR+
• Blink Mini 4K+
• Blink Mini Pan-Tilt 2K+
• Blink Outdoor 2K XR
• Blink Spotlight Cam 2K+
• Echo Show 16
• Echo Studio with Home Camera
• Echo Time
• Echo Dot (Next-Gen)
• Alexa Photo Frame

If you’re keeping track at home, that’s 21 new smart home gadgets released in a single year, compared to just one from Google — the previously mentioned Google Home Speaker. And if we counted new eero products too, that would bump Amazon’s number up to 25.

There’s an argument that Amazon’s approach of throwing so many products at the wall and seeing what sticks isn’t perfect, and there is weight to that. However, I would much rather have too many options to choose from than go years in between new product releases with no idea if/when a new model will be released.

It didn’t have to be this way

What’s all the more frustrating is that it simply didn’t have to be this way. It’s not like Google got a late start to the smart home world and has been playing catch-up ever since. Google has been in this market for 10 years, and a decade later, its smart home hardware lineup remains so sporadic and incomplete that it’s inexcusable.

That’s especially true when you remember Google’s hot streak in the early days. The original Google Home is still one of the most iconic-looking smart home speakers ever released. The Google Home Max proved Google had serious audio chops, and the first Google Home Hub is still one of the best digital picture frames I’ve ever used.

There were a handful of years when it looked like Google could have an unstoppable smart home portfolio, but then — for whatever reason — the company all but gave up.

Google should be leading the smart home charge; there should be ample choices on the Google Store for smart speakers, smart displays, and more. Instead, the company is doing the bare minimum. And if that doesn’t meaningfully change over the next couple of years, I may have to reconsider my use of Google Home as a whole.