Amazon burned its fingers with the Fire Phone in 2014. Personally overseen by Jeff Bezos, the device barely lasted more than a year before Amazon pulled the plug and wrote off $170 million in unsold inventory. Now the company is venturing into the smartphone market again.
According to Reuters, Amazon is internally developing a new phone codenamed “Transformer.” The project is part of a group called ZeroOne, which focuses on developing breakthrough devices. It is led by J Allard, a former Microsoft executive who helped launch Xbox and Zune.
What will the Amazon phone actually do?
The phone is designed as a personalization device that keeps you connected throughout the day with Alexa, Prime Video, Prime Music and Amazon shopping. A key focus is AI integration, which could completely eliminate the need for traditional app stores. Think less about scrolling through apps and more about simply asking Alexa to do things.
The concept is similar to what Carl Pei described as the future of Nothing phones in his recent SXSW interview.
Interestingly, Amazon has also been exploring a “dumbphone” version with limited features, partly inspired by the Light Phone. A simpler device could help Amazon pitch it as a second phone that cancels out the noise rather than amplifying it.
Will it actually work this time?
That’s the big question. The Fire Phone failed because it lacked popular apps, overheated, and gave people little reason to throw away their iPhones or Android devices. Amazon now faces the same challenge, with Apple and Samsung still controlling about 40% of global smartphone sales.
Amazon reckons a phone built on Alexa and its vast ecosystem could be different. Whether consumers agree is a completely different story. The timeline for “Transformer” remains unclear, and Reuters notes that it could still be canceled.
In my opinion, the dumbphone idea would be a better starting point for Amazon. It would be difficult to compete in an already saturated smartphone market. Therefore, positioning an AI-powered “dumbphone” as a secondary device to help with shopping could be an idea that users support.
