Report: Amazon planning Alexa phone over a decade after Fire Phone flop

Ben Schoon | Mar 20 2026 - 8:05 am PT

Amazon is reportedly gearing up to give smartphones another shot, with an Alexa-focused phone in the works over a decade after the infamous Fire Phone failed.

In 2014, Amazon announced the Fire Phone as its first expansion beyond tablets and into the smartphone space. The device touted unique features such as a glasses-free 3D display and “Firefly,” a feature that could scan barcodes and products, amongst other things.

It was an immediate failure, despite selling for just $199 unlocked. After just over a year, Amazon stopped selling the device and reportedly sold a minuscule number of units.

Yet, Amazon apparently wants to give this another shot.

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Reuters reports that Amazon is planning out an Alexa-focused smartphone, building the product under the codename “Transformer.” The project is described as “a potential mobile personalization device that can sync with home voice assistant Alexa and serve as a conduit to Amazon customers throughout the day,” with deeper integration with Amazon services and partners such as Prime Video, Prime Music, Grubhub, and Amazon.com. But, as with everything else nowadays, AI would also be a central part of this new device, with Alexa poised to “eliminate the need for traditional app stores.”

Notably, the lack of a proper app store was a primary failing of the original Fire Phone, as it relied on the Amazon Appstore which, especially at the time, simply did not have a lot of the apps people would want from the Google Play Store.

Alexa would apparently be “a core feature” of the new Amazon phone, but “not necessarily the primary operating system.”

Pricing, a release timeline, and other details of the device remain unclear at this time. Apparently, the whole project could be scrapped if “the strategy shifts or due to financial concerns.”

I’m sure this will go great.