Amazon Unveils New Echo Dot, Echo Show Lineup Powered By Alexa+ AI Assistant

Amazon on Tuesday hosted its flagship event for devices announcing bunch of upgrades across product categories. In of its most exciting events in recent times, Amazon refreshed the entire Echo portfolio

with new speakers and smart displays, all designed to showcase the company’s upgraded AI assistant, Alexa+. Along with it, Amazon also unveiled the new Kindle — both in color and black and white. During its keynote, Amazon was quick to highlight that it is looking to integrate AI into its devices in a bid to change how consumers engage with them.The updated lineup includes the Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 and the Echo Show 11. Each device ships with greater processing power, more memory and deeper Alexa+ integration. With Alexa+, the smart speakers and displays can handle more natural conversations, respond to complex queries and will eventually support third-party add-ons through a dedicated Alexa+ Store. At launch, the marketplace will offer services from brands such as Fandango, GrubHub, Lyft, Priceline, Taskrabbit, Thumbtack, and Yahoo Sports.

Subscribers will also be able to link Alexa+ with Amazon services like Amazon Music, Amazon Kids+, or Alexa Emergency Assist, customising how the assistant works across entertainment, safety, and family activities.

New Echo Devices

All four devices run on Amazon’s in-house silicon — the new AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips. The AZ3 chip, found in the Echo Dot Max, is optimised for faster wake-word detection and improved conversation recognition, even in noisy rooms. Amazon says accuracy has improved by more than 50 per cent compared to earlier models. Meanwhile, the Echo Studio, which is a larger smart speaker, is powered by a more powerful AZ3 Pro chip, which adds support for advanced AI workloads, including large language models and vision transformers. The same chip will also power the Echo Show devices. These devices also integrate Ominisense, Amazon’s new sensor platform that combines inputs from the 13MP camera, audio, ultrasound, Wi-Fi radar, accelerometer and Wi-Fi channel state information. The system enables Alexa to respond to real-world events.

Beyond entertainment, the Echo Show devices are positioned as household hubs. With the help of AI, they can now manage shopping lists, family calendars and stream content. Grocery integration spans Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, and Amazon’s own marketplace, making reorders and deliveries more seamless.Amazon also believes that its connected ecosystem can enable more immersive and comprehensive experiences. For example, users can connect up to five Echo Studio or Echo Dot Max devices with compatible Fire TV sticks, leading to a surround sound experience. With the help of Alexa, these speakers can turn your room into a home theatre. All four devices have for now been launched in the US and while the company has plans to bring them to India, it is yet to share more details on it.