Here's why Google's battery-powered Nest Cams aren't getting a 2K upgrade, for now

Google’s latest lineup of Nest Cam devices has arrived, but there are no new battery models in the 2K refresh. Why? Google has an understandable answer.

The new lineup of Nest Cam devices includes a wired Nest Cam Indoor, a wired Nest Cam Outdoor, and a new wired Nest Doorbell. It’s a pretty distinct shift from the latest major Nest refresh in 2021, where Google launched a battery-powered Doorbell and indoor/outdoor Cam, and just a single wired-only indoor camera.

Of course, the biggest shift in these new cameras is simply the addition of 2K recording. Still, why aren’t the battery-powered models being updated?

We asked Google exactly that.

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The main reason, at least for now, is Gemini. Google’s big AI-centric revamp for Home includes its hardware, and the truth for now is that wired cameras present a way better experience for these new features. The priority of a battery-powered camera, Google explained, is to turn on, capture the event, and turn back off as soon as possible. With Gemini being able to look at footage and gather context, that’s far from ideal. So a camera that’s constantly on and constantly gathering more information is simply more ideal for those features.

Google didn’t rule out a return to battery-powered Nest cameras, but it’s unclear when those will come. If there’s one thing Google wanted to make clear, though, its that this latest Nest refresh isn’t the end of its smart home hardware efforts.

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