Amazon Is Hell-Bent on Making Another Phone

The dream of an Amazon phone isn’t dead yet. More than a decade after Amazon released its first phone—the Fire Phone and its mostly forgotten 3D screen—to poor reviews and lackluster sales, the e-commerce giant is reportedly taking another stab at making a mobile device.

According to Reuters, the phone (codenamed “Transformer”) is under development by Amazon’s devices unit, led by former Microsoft Surface chief Panos Panay, and would connect to Alexa as well as make it easier to use Amazon’s various services.

“As envisioned, the new phone’s personalization features would make buying from Amazon.com, watching Prime Video, listening to Prime Music or ordering food ⁠from partners like Grubhub easier than ever,” the report said. Instead of apps and access to third-party app stores like the Google Play store—something that doomed the Fire Phone—this new Amazon phone could rely on AI features instead.

It’s not a totally bogus idea. Some tech CEOs, including Nothing’s Carl Pei, believe phone apps “are going to disappear” within the next 7 to 10 years, replaced by AI and “agents” that do stuff on command for you. Samsung and Google are already toying with agentic computing on their latest Galaxy and Pixel phones, respectively. At the Galaxy S26 launch in February, Samsung introduced an AI feature called “Automated app action” that lets you enter a prompt to call an Uber ride. Rather than tapping through the Uber app yourself, the AI “agent” would do it for you.

Amazon’s first phone, the Fire Phone, failed because its hardware was expensive to manufacture, it lacked many third-party apps, and it was exclusive to AT&T. © David Ryder / Getty Image

Reuters’ sources caution that the phone could be canceled “if the strategy shifts or due to financial concerns.” Hell, it sounds like Amazon is still very much exploring form factors that the potential new phone could take. Apparently, Amazon has considered regular touchscreen slabs and dumbphone designs. The report claims that Amazon has looked to the minimalist Light Phone as one source of inspiration, though it’s unclear if the phone will ultimately function as a “secondary” device meant for countering screen time.

Breaking into the smartphone market again won’t be easy, even for Amazon. The U.S. is still mostly a duopoly dominated by Apple and Samsung. Consumers don’t simply buy a smartphone anymore—they buy into an ecosystem of smartwatches, tablets, computers, and smart home devices that revolve around a smartphone. Once you choose your ecosystem, it’s hard to leave it for another, especially if you have other devices that work more seamlessly with a specific phone brand.

Amazon has Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Alexa-powered smart TVs and smart home devices, and even Eero networking gear. It just lacks a phone to connect all of them. Whatever shape Amazon’s second phone takes (again, if it’s not shelved), the one thing that Amazon is unlikely to return to is the Fire Phone’s 3D-tracking technology, which used cameras embedded in the device’s corners to track your eye movements.