Google Adds Aqua Model to Home Mini Family for Sale Through Walmart

Google added an aqua model to its popular Home Mini portfolio that's due in Walmart and the Google Store later this month. In a Tuesday blog post, the company didn’t give a price for the light blue Mini, which joins chalk, charcoal and coral models, each $49. Despite Google’s dabble in color, the off-white version appears to be most popular at Google Store, where interested shoppers are invited to join the waitlist for the out-of-stock item. Google Home Mini, which took an attractive dip to $34.99 at various stores in July for Amazon’s Prime Day event (see 1807130051), jumped to the top of the list in Strategy Analytics' most recent tally of smart speaker shipments worldwide. Global smart speaker shipments reached 11.7 million units in Q2, topping $1 billion in revenue, SA reported, with Google Home Mini owning 20 percent share on 2.3 million units shipped. Amazon’s similarly priced and discounted Echo Dot was a close second, shipping 2.2 million units for 18 percent share, it said. Amazon’s Echo came in third at 1.4 million units for 12 percent share, and Google Home tied with Alibaba's Tmall Genie in fourth, selling 800,000 units each for 7 percent share. Apple’s $349 HomePod topped market value rankings with 16 percent share of worldwide revenue, SA said.