Overview
- Amazon announced the five new Alexa devices on Oct. 28 and began selling most of them the same day, with the Echo Show 16 opening for preorder and scheduled to ship around Dec. 16.
- The next‑generation Echo Dot ships for $99.99 and for the first time includes a built‑in smart‑home hub (Zigbee/Matter/Thread), an integrated eero Wi‑Fi extender, and Amazon’s AZ3 chip with an on‑device AI accelerator.
- Echo Studio with Home Camera adds visual intelligence to Amazon’s premium speaker so Alexa can recognize objects and provide Live View for $249.99, while camera models offer physical privacy switches and on‑device indicators.
- Echo Time is a camera‑free bedside clock with Omnisense sleep sensing that can wake users during lighter sleep windows and has earned the National Sleep Foundation SleepMark certification; the Alexa Photo Frame syncs with Amazon Photos and starts around $199.99.
- Many advanced functions across the lineup require Alexa+ (included with Prime), and Amazon is positioning these devices and features to lower smart‑home setup friction, deepen service bundling, and compete with recent smart‑display and assistant offerings.