There Aren’t a Lot of Reasons to Get Excited About a New Amazon Smartphone

Details are slim. It's unclear what this smartphone would cost, how much Amazon is spending to develop Transformer, and what operating system it will run. There's no word on when it will launch, and there's still also a chance the project could be scrapped altogether. When reached by WIRED, an Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn't comment on rumors and speculation.

Amazon famously launched the Fire Phone in 2014, but it was discontinued shortly after due to a limited app ecosystem and terrible sales. Alongside a gimmicky 3D display, it had an app called Firefly that allowed you to buy things (from Amazon.com, naturally) by pointing the camera at an object.

This isn't the first talk about a new kind of operating system or a generative user interface. At Mobile World Congress 2024, T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, showed off a concept phone that generated an interface as you spoke to it rather than relying on traditional apps. Nothing CEO Carl Pei told WIRED last year that he believes future smartphones will have one app, “that will be the OS.”

AI companies are honing their chatbots' agentic skills—where they can complete tasks on your behalf—bringing us one step closer to this reality. Google recently debuted Task Automation in its Gemini assistant on Samsung and Pixel phones, allowing users to ask the bot to order an Uber or food from apps like DoorDash. OpenAI is working with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive on new AI-powered devices designed to become smarter and more powerful collaborators than our smartphones, but details are scant on what these gadgets could look like.

“What can they bring to end users that is not already available from the likes of Apple or Samsung? That's where I'm struggling to understand the rationale behind this project,” says Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of data and analytics at research group IDC. “If 10 years ago, a phone did not make any sense and it was obvious that it would not succeed, today is even worse.”

Jeronimo pointed out that even if Amazon may have started working on Transformer a year or so ago, the current economic environment would make the device much more costly than initially intended due to the memory crisis, supply-chain issues caused by the Iran war, and tariffs.

“If it's a phone, it's dead on arrival.”

Meanwhile, nearly every major smartphone maker has its own AI capabilities that will likely be similar to what Amazon can offer. (Not to mention the fact that those other companies likely won't shove Amazon services and shopping down your throat.)

“If it's a phone, it's dead on arrival,” Jeronimo says. “From a hardware perspective, it will be completely impossible to compete against Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi. From a software perspective, they may have an opportunity, but that opportunity is very short-term, because Apple, Samsung, and Android in general are moving extremely fast."

If Alexa+ is the driving force behind Transformer, Jeronimo thinks the device could be a vehicle to explore the AI chatbot on a companion device that's always on your person. Alexa has largely lived inside fixed devices in the home; while you can install Alexa+ on your smartphone today, Amazon doesn't have much control over the experience. It can't be made the default assistant on iPhones, for example.

A phone-like device or wearable would grant Amazon that power, as well as more control over your data. Amazon recently bought Bee AI, an always-listening wearable that summarizes your conversations throughout the day, and even crafts to-do lists unprompted. Asked if Bee's tech will be integrated with Alexa, Bee cofounder Maria de Lourdes Zollo—who now works at Amazon—told WIRED at CES 2026 that there's “something in the works,” but couldn't share more.

New Amazon hardware would have to contend with the company's checkered history in user privacy. It was ranked second to last in privacy in the 2025 Ranking Digital Rights Index. An investigation found that Amazon failed to protect customer data; its Ring cameras have created a suburban surveillance state; and a 2022 report found that Alexa voice transcripts were used for targeted advertising.

Alexander Gamero-Garrido, an assistant professor at UC Davis, who specializes in online privacy, contributed to the 2022 report. He says more recent research reveals that data points like age and gender can be identified via the voices interacting with Alexa devices, and that is being used for ad personalization.

“This is not a consumer device company that takes privacy very seriously,” Gamero-Garrido says. Since people use smartphones far more than Alexa or a Kindle, he says an Amazon smartphone today would “significantly increase the scale of the potential privacy harms.”

Gamero-Garrido thinks Amazon could use Transformer as a data-gathering tool to glean how people use its devices, build its advertising network, and compete with the likes of Alphabet and Meta, which are facing regulatory scrutiny in the European Union and California.

One way it could do this is through the Fire TV approach. This is Amazon's TV streaming platform integrated into a third-party TV (or via a dongle); while you may not have bought a Fire TV-powered TV from Amazon, the data collected by the operating system is still owned by the company.

“Whether they end up succeeding with this phone supplement device, or whether they eventually use a similar model where they install their operating system on other phones or ”light" phones that are built by third parties, it has the same effect," he says. “Ultimately, what Amazon is doing is centralizing all the network traffic through its own infrastructure so it can improve its advertising business.”

If Amazon can detect when a person is sick from the sound of their voice, then it can recommend that you buy a specific cold medicine from Amazon Health—that's a real patent Amazon owns. If this is now powered on a device you carry everywhere, Gamero-Garrido says, it can listen to more of your conversations and serve you better ads.

Even with its past regressions, customers have shown a general acceptance of Amazon's hardware, says Kassem Fawaz, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who researches security and privacy in consumer devices.

“I think when it comes to products, unfortunately, consumers value utility and price over privacy,” Fawaz wrote in an email to WIRED.

The accelerant here could be Amazon's Devices & Services lead, Panos Panay, who joined the company in 2023. Panay famously helped turn Microsoft's Surface line of computers into an aspirational hardware brand through his “pumped” and emotionally charged keynotes.

Panay has already brought that kind of energy to a few Amazon hardware announcements, like the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, though he has not matched the success of Surface. If Amazon is truly making a smartphone, it will need to generate a lot of passion to entice customers.

“If someone can do it, it's going to be Panos,” Jeronimo says. “For that, I have total confidence. He is the right person for these kinds of initiatives.”

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Julian Chokkattu is Senior Editor, Gear at WIRED, overseeing personal technology, gadgets, and gizmos. He has been reviewing consumer products for a decade, specializing in mobile—from smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches to smart glasses and virtual reality. This is his sixth year at WIRED. Previously, he was the mobile and wearables ... Read MoreSenior Editor, GearLinkedInThreadsblueskyTopicsAmazonsmartphonesphonesartificial intelligenceAlexaThese Official ChromeOS Flex USB Sticks Can Give Your Old Mac or Windows PC a Second LifeGoogle is partnering with Back Market to sell USB sticks that let you install ChromeOS Flex on older Windows and Intel-powered Macs collecting dust.Boone AshworthEverything Samsung Announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2026Samsung’s new phones all get AI enhancements, and the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra has a Privacy Display that can block the screen from nosy neighbors.Julian ChokkattuThe ‘European’ Jolla Phone Is an Anti-Big-Tech SmartphoneThe Finnish company Jolla is back with the Linux-powered Jolla Phone. It’s being positioned as an antidote to the US-dominated smartphone status quo of Android and iOS.Julian ChokkattuThe Bargain-Basement MacBook Neo Exposes the Insane Price of Another Key Apple ProductCan it really be the case that the company can now make a laptop $200 cheaper than a watch?Jeremy WhiteThis Digital Picture Frame Wants to Bring People Closer to a Holographic FutureBrooklyn-based Looking Glass has been dabbling in 3D screens for nearly a decade. It's finally launching Musubi, an AI-powered holographic frame to bring your photos and videos to life.Boone AshworthSummon This AI Agent by Speaking Its Wake Word Mid-Phone CallDeutsche Telekom, the German cell provider—which holds a majority stake in T-Mobile—is partnering with ElevenLabs to enable an AI assistant on all of its network’s calls in Germany. No app required.Boone AshworthGamers Hate Nvidia's DLSS 5. Developers Aren’t Crazy About It, EitherNvidia’s new AI upscaling gaming technology struck gamers as uncanny and off-putting. Developers don't seem to like it, either, but it could be “the default” in a few years.Boone AshworthHow a Music Streaming CEO Built an Open-Source Global Threat Map in His Spare TimeFrustrated by fragmented war news, Anghami’s Elie Habib built World Monitor, a platform that fuses global data, like aircraft signals and satellite detections, to track conflicts as they unfold.Lilian WagdyThis Jammer Wants to Block Always-Listening AI Wearables. It Probably Won’t WorkDeveillance’s Spectre I, developed by a recent Harvard grad, wants to give people control over the always-on wearables surrounding their lives. The problem? Physics.Boone AshworthOpenAI Fires an Employee for Prediction Market Insider TradingPrediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are big business, and some Big Tech employees are testing boundaries by making trades based on insider knowledge.Kate KnibbsArea Man Accidentally Hacks 6,700 Camera-Enabled Robot VacuumsPlus: The top US cyber agency falls into shambles, AI models develop an upsetting penchant for nuclear weapons, and more.Andy GreenbergGemini Can Now Book You an Uber or Order a DoorDash Meal on Your Phone. Here’s How It WorksStarting with the Samsung Galaxy S26, Google’s Gemini can automate tasks in popular mobile apps. We got a live demo of the new feature in action.Julian ChokkattuWired CouponsSquarespace Promo CodeSquarespace Promo Code: 20% Off Annual Acuity Subscriptions

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