Pictures of new Google Nest Smart speaker appear on Japanese regulatory body

About a month ago, a rumour surfaced concerning a new Google Smart speaker. Codenamed "prince", the device was thought to fall into Google's Nest sub-brand. While the device did not launch at yesterday's Smart Home Summit as was predicted, the Telecommunications Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan has published pictures of the device.

Assigned the model number GXCA6, the device has also been recently certified by the FCC. The Google Home is no looker, but this new device looks like an automatic air freshener that has filled out a bit. According to the images below, the speaker is over 200 mm tall and 80-100 mm wide. The speaker is deep too, at least from looking at these photos anyway.

There is only a mute switch on the device, with Android Police opining that four LEDs will be hidden under its fabric covering. There may be some hidden touch controls on the top of the device, too. The speaker will not support USB Type-C charging, though. Instead, Google has opted for a proprietary charger as it does with its other Smart Home products.

There is no word on a release date yet. However, its appearance at the FCC and a Japanese equivalent suggest that Google cannot be that far away from announcing it.