Amazon is expanding its Echo lineup with updated devices designed to support Alexa+, the artificial-intelligence version of its voice assistant. Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and Alexa, says hundreds of millions of people now use Alexa+ and interact with it more frequently for conversation, cooking, music and routines than they did before the AI upgrade.
Amazon adds new Echo devices for Alexa+
Amazon announced the new products on Wednesday, and they are available to purchase now. The lineup includes updated existing hardware and new device categories: Echo Dot ($100), Echo Studio with home camera ($250), Echo Show 16 ($500), Echo Time ($200) and the first Alexa Photo Frame ($200).
“I don’t think anyone is actually using AI in their homes, and if they are, they’re not doing it very well,” Panay said at an intimate media-only event in New York City. As people have deeper conversations with Alexa+, he said, Amazon’s devices need to feel premium. The company has pursued a similar strategy since introducing more premium Kindle and Alexa tablets in early October.
That strategy is also reflected in the pricing. The Echo Dot, previously a $50 entry-level smart speaker, now starts at $100. That increase is larger than the price rises announced for existing Amazon devices beginning this summer, which Amazon attributed to a shortage of memory.
Echo Dot focuses on improved sound
Panay said Amazon has sold more than 100 million Echo Dots. In 2026 alone, people spent more than 1 trillion minutes listening to music on the small spherical speakers.
The new Echo Dot is primarily intended to improve audio quality. Its full-range driver is reported to deliver 50 percent stronger bass and clearer vocals.
The device has four beamforming microphones, up from three in the previous model, along with Amazon’s AZ3 chip. Together, they are designed to help Alexa isolate a user’s voice in noisy surroundings and follow commands more effectively.
The Echo Dot also includes Omnisense, a feature introduced with last year’s Echo Dot Max. It can detect aspects of the surrounding environment—for example, recognizing when someone enters the house and turning on the lights.
The Dot supports the Matter smart-home standard and works as a Thread border router, allowing it to serve as a hub for setting up and controlling compatible smart-home devices. Owners with an Eero router can also use the Dot as a Wi-Fi extender.
Alexa+ usage has increased, Amazon says
According to Panay, people talk two to three times more with Alexa+, cook with it five times more often, listen to music three times more often and create routines twice as frequently as they did before the introduction of AI.
Source: www.wired.com
