Wednesday, 17 January 2024

Google’s Nest Wi-Fi routers have vanished from the Google Store - could a Wi-Fi 7 model be inbound?

Google’s excellent Google Wifi and Google Nest Wifi have been delisted from the Google Store - with no forthcoming explanation from the tech giant.

Fortunately for Nest fans, the disappearance can likely be explained by an as-of-yet-unannounced new model that will hopefully be arriving soon. As reported last year by 9to5Google, evidence of a new Google router was uncovered back in August, going under the codename ‘Breeza’.

While it’s unusual to completely delist an older product before its replacement has even arrived, it’s not entirely unheard of. The 2022-released Nest Wifi Pro (Google’s Wi-Fi 6E model) is still available on the online storefront, but that’s a $199+ high-end model that won’t be best-suited to most casual at-home users. I would personally recommend anyone hunting for a new router sits and waits until the ‘Breeza’ model arrives.

What can we expect from next-gen Nest?

The regular Google Nest Wifi (which launched back in 2020) is still sitting at the top of our best mesh Wi-Fi systems ranking, because it’s a phenomenal smart home mesh router system with a competitive price point despite now being a few years old. It’s still available from third-party storefronts like Amazon, though again I’d urge you to be patient - the price will likely drop when a new model lands.

So, what will ‘Breeza’ do to impress? Well, given that the Nest Wifi Pro’s main selling point is that it features speedy Wi-Fi 6E functionality, we can reasonably expect that an incoming model will support Wi-Fi 7 for even faster connections. We might also see a soft redesign of the hardware itself, since the physical design has shifted slightly over the years.

A set of three Google Wifi mesh routers

The original Google Wifi was among the best mesh router options available when it first released back in 2016. (Image credit: Google)

A 2024 release would align with Google’s previous non-Pro router releases. The first model was launched in 2016, with the current-gen follow-up released in 2020. The Pro model added some extra features (like Matter smart home support) that we can probably expect to see in a rebooted model. 

As for when exactly the ‘Breeza’ model will land, we can only speculate - but it hopefully won’t be too long, since Google has rid itself of the previous model!

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