Google’s Next TV Streamer Will Hear ‘Hey Google’ and Notice When You Walk In

Google’s TV Streamer is finally getting the upgrade owners wanted on day one. According to a report 9to5Google published Thursday, a next-generation Google TV Streamer is in development, and it adds two things the current box conspicuously lacks: built-in microphones and presence sensing.

There’s no price and no launch date. But the feature list says plenty about where Google wants its living-room hardware to go, and it lands at an awkward moment for the current model, which Google made $50 more expensive in August.

What the next TV Streamer adds

9to5Google editor-in-chief Abner Li, citing a source familiar with the matter, says the new Streamer keeps the same general design but is narrower, so it takes up a little less room on your TV stand. The real change is on the slanted, pill-shaped top surface, where cutouts for microphones will listen for “Hey Google.” Today, talking to Google TV means finding the remote and holding a button.

The second addition is presence sensing. When someone walks into the room, the box would wake the TV into the Google Photos screensaver. Walk closer, and the screen switches to ambient information like the time and weather. Google already does this on some sets; TCL shipped the first Google TV with the capability.

The rest of the list is incremental, but welcome:

• A faster processor than the current model
• More storage than today’s 32GB
• A remote with largely the same design, plus two more shortcut buttons alongside the existing YouTube and Netflix keys
• The Find My Remote button stays on the back of the streamer

How it stacks up against the current model

Google once said it had no plans for this

The microphones are a quiet reversal. At CES in January 2025, Google TV chief Shalini Govil-Pai told Lowpass that putting far-field mics in Google’s own streaming devices was “definitely in the plans.” After the story ran, a Google spokesperson walked it back: “We can confirm there are no current plans to add them.”

A lot has changed since. Gemini now sits at the center of Google’s TV pitch, and that pitch is about talking to your TV like a person, “whether the TV is on or off,” as Govil-Pai put it. A box that waits for you to dig the remote out of the couch cushions undercuts that. Presence sensing follows the same logic. Google started working with Hisense and TCL on proximity sensors for select 2025 TVs, and its own streamer has been left out ever since.

Should you wait?

If you’re shopping for a streamer right now, treat this as a reason to pause, not panic. 9to5Google says it has no information on when the new model will launch, and Google’s streaming hardware moves slowly: four years separated the Chromecast with Google TV 4K and the current Streamer, with an HD dongle in between. Android Central speculates about a fall announcement, but nothing official backs up a date.

Here’s what we do know. Today’s Streamer costs $50 more than it did this summer, and it’s missing the two features Google is now building into its successor. Spending $149.99 on a box that looks set to be replaced is a hard sell. If your current setup works, keep it and wait for Google to make this official. If you need something tonight, a cheaper Google TV box runs the same software for a lot less, and you can upgrade once the new Streamer has a real price.

Sources: 9to5Google, Android Central, Lowpass. Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash.