The Google Home Speaker hasn’t even started shipping yet, but one lucky buyer managed to grab one early and share their first impressions. While most of the news is positive, there’s one detail that won’t sit well with anyone who cares about repairability.
For the unaware, Google announced the speaker back in October 2025, and pre-orders went live last week. Priced at $99, it’s the company’s first new speaker in six years, so people have plenty of questions.
A Reddit user spotted one sitting on the shelves at Walmart and bought it before the official release.
What’s the big catch?
The power cable is permanently attached to the speaker, and it’s pretty short at just under 5 feet. This is a big departure from Google’s older speakers, which let you remove and swap the cable. The buyer called this the biggest downside, and I have to agree. A fixed cable is a nightmare if you ever need to replace it down the line.
To be fair, Google didn’t hide this. As reported by 9to5Google, the Google Store lists a 30W USB-C adapter in the box and even mentions the “captive cable” in the specs. It just slipped under the radar for most of us.
Is the speaker any good?
The Reddit user said the sound quality is good, with decent volume and handling of mid and low frequencies well for a speaker of this size. They even admitted they were judging it fresh off an expensive sound system, so it had a tough act to follow, yet it still came out swinging.
The interface sounds neat, too. It uses hidden lights on the top mesh to display volume controls, and you tap the speaker to control it, much like other Home speakers. Setup was a breeze and took under 10 minutes on a hotspot with an existing Home account.
For $99, this speaker is shaping up to be a solid little package, captive cable aside, and is a welcome HomePod mini alternative for non-Apple users.