After Amazon’s first effort in the smartphone market came up short more than a decade ago, it appears the retail and technology giant is trying again, and with the help of a former Xbox boss.
Reuters reported that Amazon is working on a new phone, known inside the company as “Transformer,” and it will be AI-driven and meant to push people to Amazon’s products and services.
Amazon is said to be developing this phone via its “ZeroOne” unit, which sources said is a team with the goal of creating “breakthrough” products. J Allard, the former Xbox boss who helped created the original Xbox and the Zune music player at Microsoft, is leading the team.
Allard joined Amazon in 2024, at which time he said he was working on “new ideas.” Allard is an Xbox legend, having worked at Microsoft for nearly 20 years. During his time there, he was instrumental in the formation of the team that created the original Xbox. He also led the development of Xbox Live and the Xbox 360; he left Microsoft in 2010.
The report didn’t have any information on how much the new Amazon phone might cost–for consumers or for Amazon to produce. Additionally, the report said Amazon might abandon the project entirely for strategic or monetary reasons.
Sources told Reuters that the Transformer phone would have “personalization features” to help make it easier to buy things from Amazon, watch Prime Video content, listen to music, or order food. Like many new products today, the phone will also have some kind of AI integration.
According to the report, Amazon has contemplated making a “traditional” smartphone and a “dumbphone” that would have fewer features as a means to “help counter screen addiction.” The report also said Amazon hasn’t yet lined up a wireless partner, which tracks with the idea that it’s still early days and that the specifics of the project remain in flux.
In 2014, Amazon launched the Fire Phone with a feature that allowed people to point the camera and have it recognize products in the world they could then buy on Amazon. The phone, which ran on AT&T networks, ran on the proprietary Fire OS and didn’t support iOS and Android app stores. The phone would eventually be phased out after just 14 months.