Did Best Buy Leak Google Home Max’s Release Date?

The Google Home Max is Google’s high-end Google Home smart speaker that’s scheduled to arrive this month. Google hasn’t announced a release date for the Home Max yet, but it looks like it may arrive on Dec. 11.

The potential Google Home Max release date is listed on Best Buy’s website, as first spotted by 9To5Google. The Best Buy listed the smart home speaker with a “coming soon” label and a $399 price tag. However, the release date listed right next to the model and SKU information is Dec. 11.

The date may just be a placeholder and Best Buy has since removed the release date from its Google Home Max product page. The very same date is also referenced in the Google Store, more specifically, with the terms and conditions section of the included YouTube Red promo, according to Droid Life. “The YouTube Red 12-month trial promotion is only open to participants in the U.S. who purchase and activate a Google Home Max between December 11, 2017 and February 2018,” part of the terms and conditions read.

This shouldn’t be taken as a confirmation for a release date since Google hasn’t officially announced anything yet. However, this does back up Best Buy’s listing and could very well be the real Google Home Max release date.

The Google Home Max was first revealed back in October alongside the Home Mini and the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. Google officially opened pre-orders for the Home Max on Nov. 13 and told customers that it would start shipping sometime in December. The December release date was originally thought to be Google’s attempt to take away the spotlight from Apple’s HomePod. However, Apple has since pushed the release date of the Siri-powered HomePod to early 2018.

Google hasn’t announced that it has changed its release date schedule for the Home Max, nor has it given anyone an update. For now, it’s looking very likely that the Home Max might become available on Dec. 11.

Google says the Google Home Max is 20 times more powerful than the original Google Home and is loud enough to fill an entire room with music. The Home Max comes with dual 4.5-inch high excursion woofers to deliver deep, yet balanced bass along with custom 0.7-inch tweeters.

The smart home speaker is also Google’s first product to feature what it calls Smart Sound, which allows the Home Max to automatically tune itself depending on where it’s placed in a room. Smart Sound is made possible through Google’s AI technologies.

Like the original Google Home and the smaller Home Mini, Home Max supports a wide range of music services including Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn and iHeartRadio. More importantly, the Home Max comes built in with Google Assistant, which allows users to make hands-free voice commands to control their other smart home devices, make quick Google searches and a lot more.