Google introduced the Google Home Mini almost two years back in October 2017. The company's more affordable and compact smart speaker has recieved no update this then. But that might change soon as a new report suggests that Google is planning to launch the Google Nest Hub alongside its Pixel 4 smartphones in October this year.

To recall, Google back at its annual developers conference, Google I/O 2019, brought its Home line of smart speakers under its Nest brand, which means that the future iterations of Google Home smart speakers would come with Nest branding. Now a report by 9To5 Google states that the company is planning to launch the second generation Google Home Mini smart speaker as the Nest Mini smart speaker in fall this year.

As per the report, while the form factor of the Nest Mini is likely to remain unchanged, it is expected to be slightly bigger than Home Mini, which made a debut in India last year. As far as other features are concerned, besides the basic functionality - a small speaker with Google Assistant - Nest Mini will have improved sound compared with Home Mini. It will also come with higher maximum volume and better bass.

The Nest Mini will also come with a 3.5mm jack that has systematically disappeared from the smartphones in the recent times. However, the report notes that at this point it remains uncertain if Google plans on using this port for audio input, audio output or both. The device will also get "some kind of proximity awareness", which will enable it to determine the volume level as you approach it.

An interesting update that Nest Mini is expected to feature over its predecessors is a built-in wall mount. Third-party wall mounts, the report notes, have been extremely popular among Home Mini users. Now, Google is reportedly planning to bring this functionality to its next generation affordable smart speaker natively.

The upcoming Nest Mini is expected to come in brand new set of colours, the report notes, however, there is no word on the colour scheme yet.

Separately, reports have also indicated that the Mountain View, California based tech giant could launch Pixelbook 2 alongside its Pixel 4 series of smartphones. However, we will have to wait for an official confirmation from Google to know more about its upcoming releases.