Amazon is reportedly developing a new Alexa phone, internally codenamed “Transformer,” according to Reuters.
This is huge news for the company, as it has been 11 years since Amazon’s last phone, the Fire Phone. The Fire Phone was shelved and dubbed a failed project, according to analyst Colin Sebastian.
But this isn’t just any normal plan for a smartphone. Amazon will centre this new product around the Alexa+ AI digital assistant.
Amazon has hopes of making this phone like no other, as the report indicates that they may ditch the “traditional smartphone” model, while also heavily utilizing AI interactions over normal app use. The thought behind this is for the device to be used solely via the Alexa AI assistant, instead of acting like your usual smartphone. This is similar to devices like the AI Pin or Motorola’s Project Maxwell, but in the form of a phone.
So expect more of an AI “minimalist phone” with fewer apps and more AI tasks, potentially being a possible secondary device, instead of your main smartphone.
However, Amazon is also contemplating the idea of making a “regular-ish” smartphone to compete with Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. If Amazon goes the regular phone route, it will be a device with deep Alexa integration, while being tied into Amazon Prime.
The phone is being developed by Amazon’s “ZeroOne” experimental device team, led by J Allard, who was previously with Microsoft and worked on the Xbox. This means this is a high-risk experiment with no guaranteed launch. Amazon is seemingly taking a leap of faith by jumping into a phone market dominated by Apple and Samsung, while the company’s last phone failed. Only time will tell if Amazon is able to reinvent the definition of a smartphone using AI.
Source: Reuters
