When Amazon debuted the Fireplace Telephone in 2014, it was meant to rival Apple and Samsung, much like the corporate’s Fireplace tablets. Nonetheless, after promoting fewer than 140,000 models, the Fireplace Telephone was ignominiously tossed within the bin after barely a 12 months of existence.
It has been over a decade, however a brand new report from Reuters claims Amazon is able to dip its toes again into the constricting seas of smartphones.
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The aim is to create a smartphone that gives Amazon clients reductions by Prime and offers the corporate new monitoring information on its clients that’s solely obtainable by way of smartphone.
Very like how Google is deeply built-in into a few of the finest Android telephones round just like the Pixel 10 Professional and Galaxy S26 Extremely, Amazon’s model would characteristic quick access to Amazon.com, Prime Video, and Music, in addition to ordering from partnered companies like Grubhub.
As of this writing, Reuters was not capable of decide a possible launch date, worth, or any technical specs. It sounds prefer it’s early sufficient in growth that Amazon can rapidly pivot if the challenge does not meet monetary projections or if the technique modifications.
Why now?
(Picture credit score: Credit score: Getty/Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Tom’s Information)
As talked about, the unique Fireplace Telephone was an unmitigated catastrophe. The cellphone featured Amazon’s proprietary FireOS, which was lacking widespread apps from Google and Apple. It additionally drained battery life, largely due to the multi-camera display screen designed to show 3D pictures.
Reuters reviews {that a} new group at Amazon, ZeroOne, has a mandate to create “breakthrough” devices. The brand new challenge may take two paths: a conventional smartphone that makes use of Amazon’s huge quantity of information, or a “dumb cellphone” that acts as a secondary system.
“At first look, this transfer is troublesome to justify. Amazon is unlikely to construct a greater smartphone than Apple, Samsung, or main Chinese language OEMs,” IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo instructed Tom’s Information. He famous that the smartphone market is predicted to contract in 2026 as a result of ongoing RAM disaster, making it the worst potential time to launch a brand new system.
Amazon can not justify coming into a marketplace for tens of hundreds of models when its enterprise mannequin requires a considerably bigger affect.
Francisco Jeronimo, IDC analyst
Jeronimo additionally questioned the thought of Amazon advertising and marketing a brand new cellphone as a secondary or “companion” cellphone. “Amazon can not justify coming into a marketplace for tens of hundreds of models when its enterprise mannequin requires a considerably bigger affect.”
The place Amazon would possibly have an effect is that if the corporate is ready to mix its huge ecosystem of retail, content material, and cloud companies with a strong AI basis, which is the place Alexa+ may are available in — supplied Amazon is ready to grasp “agentic” actions.
Nonetheless, Jeronimo factors out that the window to take action is minuscule, as each different cellphone maker is attempting to do related issues with their units. “The true problem will not be execution; it’s choosing the proper class the place [Amazon] can ship significant, defensible worth in an AI-first world.”
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