Over ten years after shelving the Fire Phone, Amazon is reportedly planning to launch another smartphone, this time focused on Alexa. According to Reuters, the phone, which is code-named “Transformer,” will center around Amazon’s AI assistant, but Alexa won’t “necessarily be the primary operating system of the phone.”
“Transformer” is currently in development in Amazon’s ZeroOne group, led by J Allard, who previously worked on the Zune and Xbox at Microsoft. Allard’s team has reportedly explored both smartphone and “dumbphone” designs, taking inspiration from the $700 minimalist Light Phone, which features a black-and-white display and lacks an app store.
App availability was a major challenge for the original Fire Phone, and something Amazon may try to avoid entirely this time around. According to people familiar with the new phone, “integrating artificial intelligence capabilities into the device” has been a central focus, which could mean “Transformer” may rely on mini apps like those available in ChatGPT, rather than a fully-fledged app store.
There is no timeline yet for when Amazon will release “Transformer,” if ever, or how much it could cost. The original Fire Phone launched at $199, but it failed to catch on and Amazon scrapped it a year after its release. Amazon has been pushing to keep up with its rivals in AI over recent years, which may be driving it to reignite its smartphone ambitions. However, it may still face an uphill battle winning over users on its revamped version of Alexa — users posted complaints online after getting automatically upgraded to the LLM-powered Alexa Plus earlier this year, saying it was “flooded with ads” and took longer to respond to queries.