Amazon unveils the next generation of AI-powered Echo devices, purpose-built for Alexa+

Earlier this year, we launched Alexa+, our next-generation AI assistant that’s deeply conversational and engaging, personalized, and gets things done. Already, the millions of customers with Early Access are talking to Alexa over 2x more, having deeper conversations on any topic, and relying on her to complete more tasks like controlling smart home devices, booking reservations, and helping navigate the family calendar. Today, we’re introducing four new Echo devices, purpose-built for Alexa+. The all-new Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11 are the most advanced Echo devices we’ve ever built. They deliver more processing power, memory, edge-based computing, and advanced sensing capabilities to enable Alexa+ to deliver ambient AI experiences that fade into the background of daily life. They have an all-new look and feel we think customers will love. And now, any customer who orders a new Echo device will get access to Alexa+ out of the box.

At the core of our new Echo devices are two custom-designed silicon chips—AZ3 and AZ3 Pro—with an all-new AI Accelerator designed to run AI edge models of the future. Echo Dot Max uses AZ3 to enable better conversation detection—one of the most important yet challenging parts of building an ambient AI anyone can talk to from anywhere in the room. AZ3 powers our best microphone array yet, supporting even more natural, free-flowing interactions with Alexa+, filtering out background noise and improving Alexa’s ability to detect the wake-word by over 50%. Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11 include the more advanced AZ3 Pro, which builds on the power of AZ3’s audio capabilities, adding support for state-of-the-art language models and vision transformers.

Built on top of this silicon is Omnisense, our custom sensor platform designed for ambient AI. Omnisense leverages a range of sensors and signals—the 13-megapixel camera on our new Echo Show devices, audio, ultrasound, Wi-Fi radar, accelerometer, and Wi-Fi CSI. This technology allows Alexa to intelligently act on various events happening in and around your home, enabling more personalized, proactive, and helpful experiences, such as delivering a reminder when a specific person walks in the room, or a proactive alert that your garage door is unlocked and it’s after 10 p.m.

The first-ever Echo Dot Max features nearly 3x the bass compared to Echo Dot (5th gen) with room-filling sound that automatically adapts to your space. In addition to the custom designed silicon and enhanced sensing abilities, we also redesigned the listening experience from the inside out.

For the first time, Echo Dot has been engineered from the ground up with two speakers. Echo Dot Max features a sophisticated two-way speaker system with a high-excursion woofer optimized for deep bass and a custom tweeter for crisp high notes. We also re-architected the sound system. The new design eliminates the separate speaker module, integrating the speaker directly into the device housing to double the air space for fuller bass. The result is a compact speaker that packs a huge punch. It’s the best Echo Dot we’ve ever built, and it’s only $99.99. There is no other smart speaker available that has this much innovation and performance at this price point.

We designed Echo Studio to fit elegantly into any room. It’s 40% smaller than the original—you can’t find any smart speaker that sounds this amazing at this size. The new Echo Studio combines a powerful high-excursion woofer that delivers deep, immersive bass and three optimally placed full-range drivers to create immersive sound that fills the room. Plus, it supports spatial audio and Dolby Atmos—some of the most advanced audio technologies available—for a true surround sound experience.

In addition to premium audio, this new smart speaker features a new modern spherical design and premium material. The fabric has been knit in 3D to maintain the ultimate acoustic transparency. And, we’ve added an engaging visual understanding model to the familiar light ring. It will be available for $219.99.

You can connect up to five Echo Studio or Echo Dot Max devices with compatible Fire TV sticks for an immersive surround sound system in minutes. With Alexa Home Theater, you just plug in your speakers, and Alexa takes care of the rest—automatically tuning them to the room. Systems like these typically cost thousands of dollars and take time and expertise to set up. These Echo products will be available in Alexa Home Theater bundles, for the simplest way to get powerful, professional sound.

We’ve consistently heard from customers that our Echo Show devices are the best place to experience Alexa+, and now we’re excited to introduce our most advanced smart displays yet—the new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11.

The first thing you’ll notice about these new, custom displays is their modern look and beautiful design. The displays on the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 combine in-cell touch and negative liquid crystal design to deliver an amazing viewing experience, and ambient visuals that adapt to the environment. This approach allowed us to reduce layers of lamination and maximize the viewing angle. The picture quality is exceptional with improved clarity in both bright and dimly lit rooms. With the 13-megapixel camera, Alexa recognizes when you walk up to the device, greets you, and shows you the information you want. You can see Alexa’s more visual conversational responses, view your favorite photos, manage new color-coded family calendars, or get intelligent summaries of your Ring video footage—everything appears incredibly clear, sharp, and vibrant. These all-new high-density, high-definition displays pack in over a million pixels. But we didn’t stop there. We also maximized the viewable screen area, where we’re surfacing even more of the content that matters to our customers most:

The new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 feature a new audio architecture. Both devices include new front-facing stereo speakers and a custom woofer for room-filling spatial audio that make them our best-sounding smart displays available when they launch. The full-range drivers are strategically placed under the floating displays and are meticulously designed to fire audio frontwards to deliver incredibly clear sound directly toward the customer. Echo Show 8 will be available for $179.99, and Echo Show 11 will be available for $219.99.

To help you more easily discover and take advantage of the growing list of Alexa+ capabilities and add-ons, we’re soon launching a new Alexa+ Store. The Alexa+ Store will serve as a central destination where you can explore, discover, and enable tens of thousands of devices and services from well-known brands like TaskRabbit, Fandango, Priceline, Uber, Lyft, Thumbtack, GrubHub, and Yahoo Sports; manage new or existing subscriptions like Amazon Music, Amazon Kids+, Alexa Emergency Assist; and further personalize your Alexa experience.

Additionally, companies including Bose, Sonos, LG, Samsung, and BMW will be adding Alexa+ to their speakers, TVs and In-Car experiences too—giving customers more ways to bring Alexa+ into their life.

All four new Echo devices are available for pre-order today and U.S. customers will get Alexa+ Early Access out of the box with the purchase of any new Echo. The all-new Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio will be available on October 29, and the new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 will be available on November 12.

*Note: Not all features are available on all devices or in all locations. Additional subscriptions required for Ring features.