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Google Home Max is a supersized version of the smart home speaker

Google Home Max is a supersized version of the smart home speaker

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Google has announced the Home Max, a larger version of its Home smart speaker designed to compete against Apple’s HomePod and Sonos. The Home Max is a stereo speaker running Google Assistant that resembles Apple’s old Hi-Fi speaker from over a decade ago.

Home Max features two 4.5-inch woofers alongside tweeters covered by a fabric speaker grille. It also includes far-field microphones that Google says will be able to hear you when the music is playing.

Just like Apple’s HomePod, the Home Max can tune itself for the room it’s placed in using a machine learning feature called Smart Sound. Google says Smart Sound can tune the Home Max for the audio you’re listening to, be it a song, podcast, or a phone call. It can also raise or lower the volume depending on what’s happening in your house, like turning up the volume when the dishwasher is running.

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The Home Max can also be put on its side, and can stand using magnets to keep it from falling over. It features touch controls and supports Bluetooth as well as Google Cast and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The company is also giving away 12 months of YouTube Music (ad-free) with every Home Max purchase. Google says the Home Max will retail for $399 and will be available in December.

For an exclusive look at all the new Google devices announced, check out our interview with CEO Sundar Pichai

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