Most likely no one will remember Amazon’s Fire Phone, one of the most spectacular hardware flops of the American multinational that more than two decades ago was already trying to expand its business and sphere of influence by entering a market that was becoming firmly in the hands of Chinese manufacturers.
AMAZON’S FIRE PHONE DIDN’T EXCITE ANYONE
Almost no one remembers the Fire Phone because it remained on the market for just one year and three months: from the mega event on June 18, 2014, to September 10, 2015. The device debuted with a list price of $649 but after sixty days the stock in Seattle warehouses was so high that Amazon began pricing it at $230, until its sudden (but not unexpected) exit with the e-commerce giant declaring it had taken advantage of the depletion of all stock and analysts speculating about a very high number of unsold devices.
AMAZON TRIES AGAIN WITH SMARTPHONES
According to Reuters, the Big Tech founded by Jeff Bezos, despite the very evident flop, has not abandoned the desire to have a say in the portable devices segment, especially since Google has resumed producing smartphones and smartwatches (while abandoning tablets, after a last device that was more of an interface for home automation services, similar to Amazon’s recent Echo Show).
A SMARTPHONE THAT IS ALSO AN AI DEVICE?
Rumors speak of a device closely connected not only to Amazon’s software ecosystem (e-commerce, music and video streaming services, ebooks, and of course the smart home line) but especially to Artificial Intelligence: most likely referring to the proprietary one known as Alexa Plus. It would represent the “strike” against rivals that brand fans have been waiting for a long time since so far Amazon has only chased in terms of AI.
The only certainty is that the timing does not seem mature enough to revolutionize the sector: those who recently tried to build devices entirely focused on intelligent algorithms, convinced that traditional smartphones have their days numbered, quickly collided with market indifference: emblematic are the commercial failures of Humane AI (despite investments that had brought the startup founded by two ex-Apple employees to be worth $1 billion) and Rabbit R1. The RAM crisis could also make everything even more difficult since many manufacturers are returning to smaller and cheaper cuts. And AIs need a lot of memory to function properly.
DOES AMAZON HAVE AN ACE UP ITS SLEEVE TO ENLIVEN ITS SMARTPHONE?
Last summer Amazon officially announced the acquisition of Bee, a startup founded by Maria de Lourdes Zollo and Ethan Sutin that made news precisely for having developed a wearable device based on ambient artificial intelligence. Even in that case, Amazon already had failed experiments (the Halo line closed in 2023 just three years after the launch of the display-less fitness band) and therefore might want to reconnect the thread, this time in the form of a smartphone.
According to Reuters, however, the Amazon-made smartphone project will be led by ZeroOne, a very recent team, born just in 2025 precisely to explore innovative solutions in new technological categories. At the head of the project is J Allard, former Microsoft and co-founder of the Xbox team, who would be working together with another well-known face in Redmond: Panos Panay (responsible for the Surface project).
A TABLET TO CONTROL YOUR SMART HOME?
Press rumors also speak of the development of an Android tablet: given the second youth experienced by this type of portable devices increasingly sold, this news is not surprising, also because following the example of Google (and perhaps Apple too) it could be a portable device designed to interface with home automation, a segment Amazon has long been present in.
