Amazon is developing a successor to the Fire Phone to take on the iPhone with an Alexa AI focus

After getting burned by the Fire Phone in 2014, Amazon is reportedly developing a new iPhone competitor for the current decade. The company’s refreshed hardware component takes inspiration from Alexa instead of 3D this time.

Reuters reports that the project known internally as “Transformer” is Amazon’s latest attempt to create a smartphone that focuses on a voice assistant.

The latest effort, known internally as “Transformer,” is being developed within its devices and services unit, according to four people familiar with the matter. The phone is seen as a powerful mobile personalization tool that can sync with the Alexa home voice assistant and act as a conduit for Amazon customers throughout the day, the people said.

Although founder and chairman Jeff Bezos no longer holds the title of CEO, the move reportedly stems from his desire to compete with Apple in the smartphone space.

The program is a new chapter in a multi-year effort to bring to market Bezos’ long-held vision of a voice-activated computer assistant as ubiquitous as the voice-controlled computer in the science fiction series “Star Trek.”

Bezos had envisioned a smartphone that bought on its own and could take advantage of Apple by offering easy shipping and discounts through Prime membership. Along the way, Amazon can gain a wealth of new user data only available through mobile devices including purchase history and content preferences.

Amazon famously failed to make its mark on the telecom world in the mid-2010s. Its “Fire Phone” relies on a set of cameras that create a 3D interface as a gimmick.

Despite success selling Kindle e-readers and cheap Fire tablets, Amazon has failed to compete in the smartphone race.

There were a lot of good call of fire characters back then, at least. Samsung finally took the heat off Amazon’s Fire Phone when the smartphone heavyweight released the Note 7, a phone that was on fire. Trailblazers, galore.

However, Reuters reports that Amazon’s hardware division has the authority to create “successful” products. Meanwhile, the killer feature is felt using Amazon services. According to the report:

As envisioned, the new phone’s personalization features will make shopping on Amazon.com, watching Prime Video, listening to Prime Music or ordering food from partners like Grubhub easier than ever, the people said. They asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk about internal affairs.

In theory, one way forward that makes sense is supporting Alexa+ as an AI tool. If customers get enough value from Alexa+ in various areas of life, having Alexa become the focus of the phone can be competitive.

Apple is still working on this with Siri. We hope to see the first results of this effort with iOS 26.5 soon.