Sources: Google Home will cost $129, Chromecast Ultra with 4K support will cost $69
Speaking to Android Police, two sources claim that Google will announce its Google Home and the 4K ‘Chromecast Ultra’ devices will be priced at $129 and $69, respectively, at its October 4th event.
Context & Ripple Effects
Two sources tell Android Police that Google will put a $129 price on Google Home and a $69 price on the 4K Chromecast Ultra when they are announced at the October 4th event, where the company is also expected to unveil the Pixel and Pixel XL phones, a Daydream VR viewer, and fully detail Home. The leak turns what had been a vague product slate into a concrete two-tier living-room lineup: a $129 voice hub above a $69 casting dongle.
The pricing matters because it sets the baseline for how cheaply Google is willing to enter the home. Six years on, the successor line launched far lower — the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) arrived at $30, with 4K at $50 — making this 2016 leak the high-water mark of Google's dongle pricing.
First-order effects
- Buyers get a clear split of Google's living-room pitch before the October 4th event even happens: $129 for the Assistant-equipped Home speaker, $69 for 4K casting via Chromecast Ultra.
- The rumored prices force Google's own event narrative into a tiered structure — Home as the premium smart-home entry point, Ultra as the affordable 4K upgrade path for existing Chromecast owners.
Second-order effects
- A $69 4K Chromecast gives Google a low-friction way to seed 4K TVs with its casting stack ahead of the Daydream and Pixel push, tying the dongle into the same October 4th ecosystem story rather than selling it standalone.
- Pricing Home at $129 signals Google intends to compete on the speaker shelf at a mainstream price rather than as a niche accessory, pressuring whatever rival speakers share retail space with it.
Third-order effects
- If the arc from the $69 Ultra to the $30/$50 Chromecast with Google TV line holds, Google treats streaming hardware as a margin-free gateway to its services rather than a profit center, with each generation cheaper and more capable than the last.
- The same logic applied to Home suggests smart speakers settle into a structural role as cheap distribution points for an assistant platform, where the durable business is the services layered on top, not the device price.
The trend: Google's living-room hardware has ratcheted steadily cheaper since this 2016 leak, as casters and speakers shift from priced products to subsidized on-ramps for its assistant and TV services.