- Amazon Device Manager, Panos Panay, chatting Alexa+ Hardware with Bloomberg
- Panos teased new hardware across categories in entry, core and signature categories
- We are likely to see new speakers and smart screens, but also new device types, including wearables such as smart glasses and ‘wrist -wearing devices’
Since October 2023, we have seen Pano’s Panay’s arrival launched in changes in the Amazon Devices Group – Think Echo, Four TV, Kindle and Alexa – on the wider shopping giant. Most recently, however, we saw Panos and his team at Amazon introduce a new Alexa, Alexa+, who revives the classic assistant with a ton of AI.
In a new interview with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Panay teases the next part of Evolution and that he wants “perfection in each product we send.”
He teased that he is planning to re-develop hardware across the set-up for more affordable, mid-class and premium units call ‘input, core or signature.’
Better yet, Panos says the life of the battery will be longer for portables, that the speakers will sound better – maybe even set a standard higher than the first generation ECHO study with a scream – and potentially take a page from its time as Surface’s lead promise ‘the best available security.’
It is said that the first devices with Alexa+, which Panos have touched, in addition to Kindles and even the Echo Show 15 or 21, arrive in the fall – Think August until October 2025.
In fact, Panos sets a high level of future Echo Smart speakers and smart screens as well as its range of four TV sticks and -tv, four HD tablets and various other devices. We already saw the next generation of Kindle debuted in the last quarter of 2024, and in this comprehensive interview Panay said: “There is not a corner. It doesn’t matter if we tried it before. It doesn’t matter what you thought it used to be. “
This can lead to a sharper focus of Amazon’s entire device team, which still starts with the customer and works backwards, but also puts future devices with more polish. It can also be a device type that Amazon has tried. However, this does not mean that Amazon brings back the short-lived fire phone back-Panos made it clear that he has no plans to do it, even if it is not completely off the table.
More likely, it can mean reinvestment in home robots, just as the ring always at home -cam – a flying security drone – and Amazon Astro. The latter is still an invited day a product, but Panos summarized a large part of the vision as giving people a reason or a better one to use Alexa.
On Astro and Robots as a whole, Panos said, “If a robot is part of it, then I make sure we have a great robot.” He also suggested that Augmented Reality glasses and new wrist-covered devices could be part of a future set-up. This may mean that future versions of echo frames could contain cameras, like Ray-Ban Metas, but also be more fully equipped devices with access to Alexa+. Panos confirmed that upgrades of hardware are coming to Amazon’s current wearables, echo frames and echo buds.
It also makes more sense why Alexa+ should be revealed first. It will be the central feature of these future units that essentially serve as the new platform that they can hopefully excel. I know Amazon wants a screen in everyone’s house.
Like Panos’ strategy at Microsoft for Surface, Amazon’s upcoming devices are likely to pay the greatest attention to details and not only offer speeds to go fast, but rather be there to give some kind of functionality and genuine helpfulness to the one using it.
Panos said, “We see for us what is the next thing for a customer when it comes to AI devices and we have some incredible.” It doubles on Amazon’s devices and I’m just eager to see if Amazon will flood the market with new devices in the fall as its past events or whether it will be a more temperate approach. At least I hope for a few new ECHO speakers across post, core and signature lineup.
You can read the full interview with Panos Panay at Bloomberg here.
