Amazon Unveils Next Generation Echo Show 8, All-New Echo Hub, and New Echo Frames

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Amazon introduces new Echo devices with upgraded features and designs

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Next-generation Echo Show 8 features improved processor and spatial audio
Echo Hub offers intuitive smart home control panel
Echo Frames and Carrera Smart Glasses provide hands-free access to Alexa

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09/20/2023 - 12:18 PM

Next generation Echo Show 8 features a beautiful new industrial design, intuitive home screen experience, upgraded processor, spatial audio, and a built-in smart home hub—just $149.99

Echo Hub is Amazon’s first smart home control panel that makes connecting and managing smart devices intuitive—just $179.99

All-new Echo Frames and Carrera Smart Glasses introduce seven new frame styles, reimagined audio design, long-lasting battery, and hands-free access to Alexa—starting at $269.99

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today introduced a range of new Echo devices designed for even more personalized, proactive, and intuitive Alexa experiences at home and on-the-go—the next-generation Echo Show 8, all-new Echo Hub, and new Echo Frames. In addition, Amazon collaborated with Safilo, one of the world’s leading eyewear manufacturers, to blend the power of Alexa with iconic Carrera designs.

“Engagement with Echo devices is at an all-time high,” said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV. “Customers rely on Alexa for so much, including managing their smart homes, keeping up with the latest news, setting birthday reminders, and keeping their homes stocked with essentials. These new Echo devices give customers more ways to experience the world’s best personal AI—and the growing generative AI capabilities that will be coming to Alexa soon—at home and on the go.”

Echo Show 8—New Design, Spatial Audio, and Built-in Smart Home Hub—$149.99

The new Echo Show 8 has been upgraded inside and out. A new industrial design includes edge-to-edge glass and soft curvatures, while an improved processor delivers even faster display responses than the previous generation. It also runs a new model enabling Alexa to process common smart home requests locally for 40% faster responses to common requests, such as turning on a smart light, switch, or plug. An enhanced audio experience provides improved clarity and bass, with room adaptation technology and spatial audio processing for optimal, room-filling sound. Video calls are even better with a centered 13-megapixel camera, plus an enhanced audio pipeline which minimizes background noise from around the home. Additionally, a built-in smart home hub includes support for Zigbee, Sidewalk, Thread, Bluetooth, and Matter, enabling easy control of compatible lights, locks, and sensors.

All-new home screen experience with Adaptive Content

Echo Show 8 also features Adaptive Content—a new home screen experience that uses on-device computer vision technology to adjust on-screen content based on a customer’s proximity to the device. With this experience, a customer positioned across the room will see content that is easily viewed from a distance—such as a simplified news headline or recipe inspiration—with the screen automatically transitioning to a more detailed view as they approach the device. If the customer is enrolled in visual ID, the content will also be personalized to them, highlighting things like a recent playlist or additional news articles from their preferred provider. The new adaptive home screen also includes shortcut icons that make it easy to access their most used widgets, which can be opened with just a tap. Adaptive Content will be available on Echo Show 8 2^nd and 3^rd generation next month and roll out to other Echo Show devices early next year.

New Echo Show 8 Photos Edition enables customers to make personal photos the primary home screen content

Also coming this fall is Echo Show 8 Photos Edition, which unlocks a photo-forward mode on Echo Show 8’s high-resolution screen. The Photos Edition experience makes customer-selected personal photos the primary rotating content on the ambient screen. Photos rotate every 30-seconds and customers receive 25 GB of storage from Amazon Photos. Prime Members already receive free, unlimited high-resolution photo storage and can use this additional storage to back-up videos as well. The all-new Echo Show 8 Photos Edition is available for $159.99 and includes a six-month PhotosPlus subscription which will renew after six months for $1.99 per month, and can be cancelled at any time.

Echo Hub—Wall-Mountable Smart Home Control Panel—Just $179.99

The all-new Echo Hub is an Alexa-enabled smart home control panel, purpose-built to give customers a simple and intuitive way to manage smart home devices. It’s easy to install, and features a thin, eight-inch, touch-enabled display with a customizable smart home dashboard that makes it simple for customers to group and manage smart devices, arm a security system, start a Routine, organize widgets, and view multiple camera feeds. With Adaptive Content, Echo Hub uses infrared technology to detect when someone is nearby, and naturally transitions from a home screen with a beautiful clock, to the smart home control screen.

Easy to install, and includes built-in smart home hub

Echo Hub can be mounted on a wall or placed on a counter with a stand accessory, includes a built-in smart home hub with support for Zigbee, Sidewalk, Thread, Bluetooth, and Matter—and it’s compatible with more than 140,000 connected cameras, lights, locks, plugs, thermostats, speakers, and more. Echo Hub can connect to the internet wirelessly, or via ethernet with a compatible power-over-ethernet (PoE) adapter.

Echo Frames—Fashion-Forward Designs, Extended Battery Life, and Improved Audio—Starting at $269.99

The next-generation Echo Frames combine high-end fashion with Alexa on-the-go, with five new styles including sunglass, prescription-ready, or blue light lens options available. All frame styles have been designed with premium materials to be lightweight, with 15% slimmer temples for comfortable all-day wear, and improved battery life that delivers up to six hours of continuous media playback or talk time on a full charge. A redesigned audio architecture and new custom-built speakers deliver three-times more bass than the previous generation, and more accurately direct sound to customers’ ears, while minimizing outside noise. Plus, Echo Frames are built with upgraded speech processing technology that improves Alexa’s performance, with up to ten-times better recognition in loud or windy conditions than the previous generation. Now, customers can do more on-the-go, like calling a loved one, listening to a favorite playlist or podcast, or controlling smart home devices—all hands free.

Carrera Smart Glasses—the smarts of Alexa on the go, styled by Carrera Eyewear

Launching alongside the new Echo Frames are Carrera Smart Glasses—a completely new line of smart eyewear that combines Alexa with fashion-forward frame styles designed by Carrera Eyewear. The collection includes two new frame designs—Carrera Cruiser and Carrera Sprinter—blending the iconic Carrera style with the power of Alexa, allowing customers to stay connected and get help with daily tasks, with technology that blends seamlessly into their lifestyle when not in use.

Built with Privacy in Mind

Echo devices are designed with customer privacy in mind and include multiple layers of privacy controls. Echo devices include built-in camera shutters, a microphone on/off button and the microphones on Echo Frames and Carrera Smart Glasses can be muted with the double-press of a button. Customers have full control over their voice recordings and can view, hear, or delete them at any time.

To learn more about the features that provide transparency and control with Alexa, visit the Alexa Privacy Hub at http://www.amazon.com/alexaprivacy.

Climate Pledge Friendly

All Echo devices announced today received the Carbon Trust’s Reducing CO2 certification and qualify for the Climate Pledge Friendly badge. Device packaging for Echo Show 8 is 100% recyclable in the U.S., and fabric is made from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester yarn. Device packaging for Echo Hub is made from 97% wood fiber-based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. Echo Show 8 and Echo Hub have Low Power Mode to intelligently conserve energy during periods of inactivity, helping to save energy over the device’s lifetime. Echo Frames and Carrera Smart Glasses’ device packaging is 100% recyclable, and the charging stand is made with 35% recycled materials. Plus, Amazon’s renewable energy projects will produce the clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by every customer’s Echo device by 2025. On the product detail pages for each of these devices, customers will also find a Product Sustainability Fact Sheet containing additional information about device life cycle carbon emissions and sustainability impact.

Pricing and Availability

Echo Show 8 is available in Glacier White and Charcoal for $149.99 and will begin shipping on October 25. Echo Show 8 Photos Edition will be available later this fall for $159.99 and includes a six-month PhotosPlus subscription which will renew at $1.99 per month and may be cancelled at any time. An adjustable Echo Show 8 stand with USB-C charging port is available for $34.99.

Echo Hub is $179.99 and will be available later this year—customers can sign up to be notified when pre-orders are available. Decorative frame accessories that can be placed on Echo Hub to customize the exterior are available in wood, metallic and paintable white for $19.99 each and a counter stand accessory is available for $29.99.

Echo Frames start at $269.99 and Carrera Smart Glasses are $389.99. Customers can sign up to be notified when pre-orders begin. To learn more about all the new Echo devices, visit www.amazon.com/echodevices.

Customers will soon be able to preview new Alexa capabilities powered by generative AI on all Echo devices including the Echo devices announced today. More on these capabilities can be found here.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.