Amazon Plans Smartphone Comeback Extra Than a Decade After Fire Phone Flop

Now, Amazon is dialing up a brand new telephone.

The newest effort, recognized internally as “Transformer,” is being developed inside its gadgets and companies unit, in line with 4 folks acquainted ​with the matter. The telephone is seen as a possible cellular personalization gadget that may sync with house voice assistant Alexa and function a conduit to Amazon clients all through the day, the folks stated.

The initiative is the most recent ‌chapter in a years-long effort to carry to market Bezos’ long-held imaginative and prescient, opens new tab of a ubiquitous voice-driven computing assistant akin to the voice-controlled laptop in science fiction sequence “Star Trek.”

Bezos had envisioned a smartphone that had purchasing at its core and will tackle Apple by providing delivery comfort and reductions by the Prime membership. Along the way in which, Amazon may acquire a wealth of recent knowledge about customers solely obtainable by cellphones mixed with buy historical past and content material preferences.

Amazon’s effort to develop a brand new smartphone has not been beforehand reported. Reuters couldn’t decide some particulars, such because the anticipated worth of the telephone, the income Amazon hopes to generate, or the monetary dedication ​Amazon has made to the challenge.

The timeline for Amazon’s Transformer challenge can be unclear, and the folks cautioned it could possibly be scrapped if the technique shifts or resulting from monetary issues.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to remark for this story.

Shares of the corporate fell ​1.6% to $205.37 on Friday and are down 9.3% for the yr.

As envisioned, the brand new telephone’s personalization options would make shopping for from Amazon.com, watching Prime Video, listening to Prime Music or ordering meals from companions like ⁠Grubhub simpler than ever, the folks stated. They requested for anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate inside issues.

A key focus of the Transformer challenge has been integrating synthetic intelligence capabilities into the gadget, the folks stated. That may eradicate the necessity for conventional app shops, which ​require downloading and registering for purposes earlier than they can be utilized.

Alexa would seemingly be a core characteristic however not essentially the first working system of the telephone, the folks stated.

Indeed, the brief historical past of AI-embedded {hardware} is marked by failed entrants, together with the Humane AI pin and Rabbit R1 assistant ​which each sought to make generative AI obtainable with out the necessity to log in to computer systems or cellphones.

Both suffered poor crucial receptions, and the Humane pin was discontinued.

That has not deterred others from pursuing AI-native gadgets that get rid of the app-driven visible language of smartphones. OpenAI is working with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a number of {hardware} prototypes, whereas Apple, Google and Meta are creating new AI-embedded glasses and different gadgets, corresponding to watches and headphones.

“Amazon could have an opportunity,” Francisco Jeronimo, vice chairman of information and analytics at International Data Corporation, wrote in a analysis observe on Friday. The firm “brings together a powerful services ecosystem spanning commerce, ​content, cloud, and an existing AI foundation with Alexa, along with deep expertise in data-driven customer engagement.”

But, “the window of opportunity is tiny,” he wrote. “Every major player is moving in the same direction.”

While Amazon’s AWS is dominant in offering international cloud computing infrastructure, the corporate has sought to beat ​a fame for being flat-footed in providing AI purposes as rivals have sped forward.

Alexa, which underwent a multi-year AI-led revamp earlier than its new launch in 2025, is seen internally as crucial to Amazon’s future in consumer-facing companies. The telephone, the folks stated, is one other try by Amazon to speed up clients’ AI utilization both on ‌the gadget or by ⁠Alexa.

FIRED PHONE

Amazon’s preliminary entry into the smartphone market in 2014 included options corresponding to a camera-based purchasing instrument that acknowledged merchandise, discovered them on the market on Amazon.com and put them in clients’ on-line carts.

The Fire Phone’s proprietary Fire OS lacked widespread apps obtainable within the Android and iOS app shops, and had an advanced multi‑digital camera display screen system for displaying 3D photos that used a lot battery energy that the handset usually overheated.

Amazon packaged the Fire Phone with a free yr of Amazon Prime, nevertheless it nonetheless bought poorly. Amazon minimize the worth from $649 unlocked to $159 and in the end canceled the telephone after 14 months, taking a $170 million cost for unsold stock.

Colin Sebastian, analyst at monetary agency R.W. Baird, stated the truth that Amazon has failed earlier than with a smartphone doesn’t make it insurmountable to strive once more, however cautioned that it is going to be troublesome. “Amazon will have to give consumers a ​compelling reason to switch phones and people are pretty attached to the ​existing app stores,” he stated.

As it did over a decade ⁠in the past, Amazon faces the daunting activity of unseating market leaders Apple and Samsung, which collectively commanded about 40% of world gross sales final yr, in line with Counterpoint Research, a technology-focused market analysis agency.

And smartphone shipments are headed for his or her largest decline ever in 2026, anticipated to plunge 13%, in line with IDC, as surging reminiscence chip costs drive up gadget prices.

MANDATE FOR ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ GADGETS

The challenge is being led by a year-old group inside Amazon’s gadgets unit known as ​ZeroOne, whose mandate is to create “breakthrough” devices, the folks stated. ZeroOne is led by J Allard, a former Microsoft government concerned in such gadgets because the Zune music participant and Xbox gaming console.

The head ​of Amazon’s gadgets and companies unit, Panos ⁠Panay, has been working to reverse years of unprofitability within the division.

That features a forthcoming pill that may—for the primary time—run Android as a substitute of Fire OS and will promote for round $400, which Reuters was first to report.

Three individuals who have labored on the Transformer challenge stated the telephone remains to be beneath improvement. The firm has explored each a standard smartphone and a so‑known as “dumbphone” with extra restricted options that might assist counter display screen habit. Amazon has not but sought wi-fi provider companions for the gadget, these folks stated.

One inspiration for the brand new telephone has been the Light Phone, two of the folks stated, a $700 ⁠minimalist smartphone with ​a digital camera, map, calendar and never a lot else, corresponding to an app retailer or internet browser.

A dumbphone or characteristic telephone may additionally assist Amazon promote it as a possible ​second handset to accompany iPhones and Samsung Galaxies already in clients’ pockets, the folks stated. Such handsets, just like the Light Phone and flip telephones, accounted for 15% of world handset gross sales in 2025, in line with Counterpoint Research.

Scant knowledge exists on how many individuals carry a couple of telephone, stated Chetan Sharma, an unbiased wi-fi analyst. Nowadays, he stated, the ​apply is commonest amongst white-collar employees who need a second telephone away from the prying eyes of their employers or dad and mom who need a gadget to present to youngsters to restrict entry to social media.