Amazon Gears Up for Next-Gen Echo and Kindle Devices with Alexa+ Integration

Amazon's next-gen Echo and Kindle devices are almost here

New Echo devices powered by Alexa+ are on the menu, including revamped Kindle hardware. Get ready for a parade of new Amazon devices -- including Echo speakers powered by the new AI Alexa -- at showcase in New York City later this month. The event is slated for September 30, and the timing puts Amazon back on track for its usual fall preview of its latest wares. Amazon skipped its typical fall event last year in favor of a smaller Kindle-only unveiling. The Amazon invitation shows what appears to be Alexa's telltale blue light ring, along with the famous Kindle logo, so it seems like new Echo devices and Kindle tablets are safe bets. The upcoming event will mark the first full-on Amazon Devices fall showcase since the arrival of Alexa+, the AI-supercharged version of Alexa. Alexa+ made its splashy debut back in February following a lengthy delay, and it's been rolling out ever so slowly over the past several months. Amazon's big fall hardware event will also be the first to feature Panos Panay, the former Microsoft executive who took over Amazon's Alexa and Echo divisions. Panay, who succeed outgoing Amazon exec David Limp back in September 2023, hosted a scaled-down Kindle event last fall, as well as the Alexa+ reveal earlier this year. Several of Amazon's most popular Echo devices are due for a refresh, including the ever-popular Echo Dot. The fifth-generation Echo Dot made its debut back in 2022, most notably with the new ability to act as an extender for Amazon's Eero mesh Wi-Fi routers. The four-year-old Amazon Echo Show 10 with its swiveling display is also ripe for a re-do, as is the Echo Studio, the Dolby Atmos-capable Echo speaker that came out way back in 2020. The Echo Studio has long been unavailable for purchase, and no Echo speaker with similar audio quality has come along to replace it. Besides Echo speaker and displays, Amazon will likely unveil new Kindle hardware at the event. Ring cameras are also stables of Amazon's fall event, including (somewhat infamously) the Always Home Cam, the flying Ring drone camera that never made it out of its early-access status. Amazon's fall event will come just a day before Google shows off the latest Google Home devices, including (very probably) new Nest cams and a new smart speaker powered by Gemini.

Amazon Device & Services Event 2025: Date, time, and what we expect to see

Today Amazon sent out invites for a Devices & Services event, which will take place on Sept. 30 in New York, and feature Amazon SVP Panos Panay. Like most companies who hold such events, Amazon is pretty tight-lipped about what we're going to see, but we can take a few educated guesses as to what the event will be about. Late September is the time Amazon has traditionally held such events to show off its newest smart speakers and smart displays, as well as products from companies it owns, most notably Blink, Ring and eero. However, it's been two years since Amazon has hosted such an event, and much of its hardware has gone un-updated in that time, so we could be in for a lot of new devices. Here's what we expect to see. Amazon Devices & Services Event: Date and time Amazon's 2025 Devices & Services event will take place on September 30, starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will be held in New York, and, like most Amazon events, will not be livestreamed (to our knowledge). However, we plan to live blog the event, so be on the lookout for our full coverage. Amazon Devices & Services Event: Alexa+ The last big event Amazon held was in February to show off Alexa+, its AI-enhanced voice assistant. There, we were able to try out the new assistant to see what it could do, such as the ability to create smart home routines, book restaurants and trips, and in general, act in a more conversational manner than the original Alexa. Alexa+ started rolling out in April to early adopters, so our best guess is that Amazon will announce that it's finally going to be available for everyone. I also anticipate that Amazon will announce more capabilities, as well as integration with third-party services. Back when I tried Alexa+ for two weeks in July, it only worked with a handful of third-party apps, such as Uber, OpenTable, and Ticketmaster. Now that it's been out there for over half a year, I expect to see more partners. Amazon Devices & Services Event: Smart speakers and displays When Alexa+ was announced, Amazon revealed the devices that would work with Alexa+. Given that it's now as much a visual as an audio experience, it's no surprise that Alexa+ works with all Echo Show devices, but it also works to a more limited extent with some of Amazon's newer smart speakers. Regardless, all of the devices in Amazon's inventory are likely due for an upgrade. The company's last major new product was the Echo Show 21, which came out in 2024. The Echo Show 10 (2021) and Echo Show 8 (2023) are showing their age. While the previous Echo Shows were pretty well stocked with features, I would guess that Amazon might beef up their processing powers, so that Alexa+ could do more on-device actions, rather than having to rely on the cloud. If the Echo Show 10 does get a refresh, I'll be curious to see if its retains the same design. Having a screen that can rotate to follow you around the kitchen or living room was pretty neat, but I wonder if the virtual tracking cameras of later Echo devices present a far cheaper solution. Amazon Devices & Services Event: Smart glasses What I'm particularly interested to see is if Amazon will launch a new pair of Echo Frames. The Frames were last refreshed in 2023, and since that time, Meta has really taken over the market with the Ray-Ban Meta. Most of the best smart glasses now include cameras, so that their AIs can analyze what you're looking at, so it would be a real miss on Amazon's part to omit that feature. The other wildcard is that Meta might announce the Ray-Ban Meta 3 glasses this week at Meta Connect 2025, so whatever Amazon releases would have to be on a par with another device we know very little about -- but will very soon. Amazon Devices & Services Event: Outlook Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta and many others are all still figuring out how best to incorporate AI into physical devices. Apart from Apple, Amazon might be the furthest behind Google and Meta, as it's had to completely reengineer its voice assistant while maintaining what was already there (and used by millions). Now that Alexa+ has had some time in the real world, this event could be the first real showcase of devices that can truly take advantage of all that it can do. While it would be going too far to say that Alexa+ was shoehorned into previous Echo devices, they were all designed for an older version of Amazon's assistant. Stay tuned for all of our coverage of Amazon's Devices & Services event. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!