Is Amazon Phone Coming? Not Exactly: Here’s What Devices Chief Panos Panay Says

After a Reuters report earlier this year claimed that Amazon might be working on an AI-powered phone, the company’s devices chief Panos Panay has finally cleared the air on Amazon’s device strategy. Speaking to the Financial Times, Panay said Amazon is not exactly building a smartphone but he did not completely rule out the possibility of Amazon launching a phone-like device.“I think your black and white question is, are you going after a phone? A lot of people want me to say no, but a lot of people want me to say yes, I get it. Here’s my take: it’s not necessarily [that] we’re going after a phone, no,” Panay said in an interview with the Financial Times ."If I black and white say no, I would say that was accurate. But I also think it’s misleading.

What I won’t ever do again is go to the customer and say here’s another phone. What do you think? There’s no point. We know what customers need right now," he added.He also believes that 'phone form factor is going away anytime soon.' This means the US-based tech giant is not planning to launch another traditional smartphone like the failed Amazon Fire Phone.Is Amazon Building An Ultimate AI Smartphone With Alexa? Here's What We Know

However, the company may be working on a new kind of mobile device built around AI and Amazon Alexa. Panay made it clear that Amazon has learned from its earlier mistakes. The comments come months after Reuters reported that Amazon was testing a phone-like device internally under the codename 'Transformer.'The device was said to be designed to offer quick access to Alexa and Amazon’s AI features.For now, Amazon has not confirmed what it is building. But Panay’s comments suggest the company is exploring new AI-powered hardware that may look and work like a phone without being a direct rival to the Apple iPhone or Android smartphones.