Amazon’s fall hardware events can usually be counted on for a couple of things: an avalanche of new devices, and at least one new product that’s genuinely nuts.
Take the Amazon Astro, a two-wheeled Alexa-powered robot that was rolled out—literally—during Amazon’s fall 2021 hardware event. A year prior, there was the Ring Always Home Cam, an indoor airborne drone that could patrol your home in a preset flight pattern.
Other gems from yesteryear include the Echo Loop, an early stab at a smart ring that put Alexa on your finger, while the Echo Look was a camera that allowed Alexa to give you a morning fashion check.
Even the introduction of the newly AI-enhanced Alexa—the first unveiling was back in 2023, mind you—was delightfully unhinged, with the “supercharged” Alexa channeling HAL-9000 during its spirited back-and-forth conversations. (In contrast, the February 2025 Alexa+ announcement focused on more prosaic applications such as shopping and smart home control.)
So for Amazon’s big hardware reveal in New York City earlier this week—the first one in two years, as well as the first to be hosted by ex-Microsoft executive Panos Panay, now the head of Amazon’s hardware division—I was ready for a firehose of new products, as well as something crazy.
Personally, I was betting on a new, Alexa+-tinged take on the third-generation Echo Show 10, an Echo smart display with a motorized screen that could follow you around the room, perfect for allowing the new AI Alexa to scan your kitchen and guide you as you toiled over dinner prep.
Amazon showed off plenty of pratical upgrades at its fall hardware event, but nothing genuinely nuts.
Ben Patterson/Foundry
Or, how about this: a new generation of Echo Frames that would compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, complete with tiny integrated cameras that would let you take Alexa+ out into the world. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?
Well, it turns out I was only half-right about Amazon’s fall hardware event this year. There was a truckload of new products, including four new Echo devices, more than a half-dozen Ring cameras, a couple of Kindles and a series of new Fire TV sets, plus a budget Fire TV 4K stick.
Disappointingly, though, there was no crazy—no Echo robots, no Echo Show displays with autonomous rotating screens, no flying Ring drones, nothing to wear with Alexa+ on board. What gives?
Well, one answer could be that Amazon’s become much more practical about its devices in the past couple of years, with a renewed focus on profitability as Panay took the reins from longtime Amazon hardware chief David Limb in fall 2023—which was, incidentally, the year Amazon uncharacteristically skipped its regular hardware event.
Previously, Amazon seemed to take a throw-it-on-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks approach with its hardware, which led to a lot of wild pitches—and, consequently, a lot of abandoned products. That Ring Always Home Cam drone? Never left its early “Day One Edition” status. Same for the Echo Loop, while the Amazon Astro bot was briefly repurposed into a business-oriented guard dog before being summarily ditched. The Echo Look camera? Deactivated long ago.
Instead, we got a lineup of sensibly refreshed products, including spiffy new Echo speakers and displays with beefed-up internals, the first 4K-capable Ring cameras, and revamped Fire TVs with AI-enhanced search.
The upgrades all appear quite solid and practical, with reasonable price tags and no need to sign up for an early access ticket.
In short, Amazon played it safe with this year’s new hardware—a smart move, from a business perspective.
Me, I miss the crazy.