Amazon's Panos Panay teases future Alexa+ devices from speakers to possible wearables

Date:
Tue, 18 Mar 2025 02:00:00 +0000

Description:
Panos wants perfection in every single product that we ship."

FULL STORY ======================================================================Amazon's
devices chief, Panos Panay, chatted Alexa+ hardware with Bloomberg Panos teased new hardware across its entry, core, and signature categories We'll likely see new speakers and smart displays, but also new device types, including wearables like smart glasses and 'wrist-worn devices'

Since October 2023, weve seen Panos Panay's arrival usher in changes within Amazon Devices group think Echo, Fire TV, Kindle, and Alexa at the broader shopping giant. Most recently, though, we saw Panos and his team at Amazon introduce a new Alexa, Alexa+ , which reinvigorates the classic assistant
with a ton of AI.

In a new interview with Bloombergs Mark Gurman , Panay teases the next part
of evolution and that he wants perfection in every single product that we ship.

He teased that he plans to re-engineer hardware across the lineup for more affordable, mid-range, and premium devices dubbed entry, core or signature.

Better yet, Panos says battery life will be longer for portables, that the speakers will sound better maybe even setting a standard higher than the first generation Echo Studio with a squeal and, potentially taking a page from his time as Surfaces lead, promises the best security available. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Its said that the first devices featuring Alexa+ that Panos has touched, beyond the Kindles and even the Echo Show 15 or 21, will arrive in the fall think August to October of 2025.

Indeed, Panos is setting a high level for future Echo smart speakers and
smart displays, as well as its lineup of Fire TV sticks and televisions ,
Fire HD tablets, and various other devices. We already saw the next
generation of Kindle debuted in the last quarter of 2024, and in this wide-ranging interview, Panay stated: There wont be a corner cut. It wont matter if we tried it before. It wont matter what you thought it used to be.

This could lead to a sharper focus for Amazons entire devices team, which is still starting at the customer and working backwards but also putting out future devices with more polish. It could also be a device type that Amazon has tried. However, this does not mean Amazon is bringing back the
short-lived Fire Phone Panos made it clear he doesnt have plans to do that, though its not entirely off the table.

More likely, it could mean reinvestment in robots for the home, like the Ring Always Home Cam a flying security drone and Amazon Astro . The latter is still an invite-only Day One product, but Panos summed up a big part of the vision as giving folks a reason or a better one to use Alexa.

On Astro and robots as a whole, Panos said, if a robot is part of that, then Ill make sure we have a great robot. He also hinted that augmented reality glasses and new wrist-worn devices could be part of a future lineup. This might mean future versions of Echo Frames could feature cameras, much like Ray-Ban Metas, but also be more full-featured devices with access to Alexa+. Panos confirmed that hardware upgrades are coming to Amazons current wearables, Echo Frames and Echo Buds .

It also makes more sense why Alexa+ had to be unveiled first. It will be the central feature of these future devices, essentially serving as the new platform on which they can hopefully excel. I still bet Amazon wants a screen in everyones house . (Image credit: Future)

Like Panos strategy at Microsoft for Surface, Amazons forthcoming devices
will likely have the utmost attention to detail and not just offer speeds for the sake of going fast but rather be there to provide some sort of functionality and genuine helpfulness for whoever is using it.

Panos stated, Were envisioning whats the next thing for a customer when it comes to AI devices and we have some incredible ones. Its doubling down on Amazons devices lineup, and Im just keen to see if Amazon will flood the market with new devices in the fall like its previous events or if it will be a more tempered approach. At the minimum, I hope for a few new Echo speakers across the entry, core, and signature lineup.

You can read the full interview with Panos Panay at Bloomberg here . You might also like I asked ChatGPT 4o, Gemini Live, and Siri what to wear, and only one could really help me look my best Amazons new AI-powered Alexa+ is a lot more fun to talk to than ChatGPT or Siri, and I like it Want to try Alexa+? Here are the Echo devices it'll work on



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/home/smart-home/amazons-panos-panay-teases-future-al exa-devices-from-speakers-to-possible-wearables


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)