In this articleAMZN your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTAmazon Devices & Services Senior Vice President Panos Panay speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | ReutersAmazon on Tuesday unveiled four new smart speakers and voice-activated displays that are revamped with Alexa+, its personal assistant that's powered by generative artificial intelligence.The company debuted the Echo Dot Max, a revamped version of its compact smart speaker, which costs $99.99.
Amazon also unveiled a new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11, priced at $179.99 and $219.99, respectively.There's also a new version of the Echo Studio, a larger, higher-end model with a more powerful speaker, priced at $219.99.All the devices are available for pre-order on Tuesday, and users will get Alexa+ early access "out of the box," Amazon said.
The Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio ship Oct. 29, while the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 ship Nov. 12.The devices were launched at Amazon's fall hardware bonanza, held in New York.
They're the first batch of revamped ducts under the leadership of Panos Panay, a former Microsoft hardware leader who joined Amazon in 2023.It's also the first set of Amazon hardware to integrate the company's long-awaited Alexa+, which debuted in February and has slowly rolled out in early access for some users.Read more CNBC newsChina's DeepSeek launches next-gen AI model.
Here's what makes it differentLutnick wants Taiwan to help America make 50% of its chips locallyEtsy pops 16% as OpenAI announces ChatGPT Instant Checkout for the shopping siteEA going private in $55 billion deal that will pay holders $210 a "These are the most powerful Echo devices we have ever created," Panay said on stage at the event.
"Custom silicon, advanced sensors, our best microphones and sound, noise cancellation, understanding the user, faster than anything we've ever dered before.
They're also beautifully designed to fade into the background."Alongside a revamped look, Amazon added new AZ3 and AZ3 chips for edge cessing to the devices, which are faster, more powerful and have "AI built right in," said Daniel Rausch, the head of Amazon's Alexa and Echo es.The devices also feature a so-called "Omnisense" platform that gives Alexa "better contextual awareness," Rausch said.
It allows the Echo Show to be able to recognize users and serve up personalized insights, an analysis of how they slept last night or alert users if they left their front door unlocked after midnight.Amazon faces growing pressure to its hardware and software for the generative AI age ing the success of rivals such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.
Meta also has its Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which use its Llama large language model to answer spoken questions from the user.Amazon is also looking beyond Alexa or Echo smart speakers for opportunities in device growth.The company in July confirmed it's acquiring AI wearables startup Bee, which makes a wristband that can record and transcribe conversations.watch now0:3900:39Amazon s on $2.5 billion settlement with FTCHalftime Report