Amazon’s Panos Panay addresses new Fire phone rumors

Amazon’s head of devices and services, Panos Panay, says that the company is “not necessarily” planning to release a smartphone, but has stopped short of denying it outright. It was previously reported that Amazon is developing an Alexa-enabled AI phone codenamed “Transformer,” more than 10 years after it scrapped its ill-fated Fire Phone.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Panay was asked directly if the company was planning another smartphone. “It’s just not the goal,” he replied. “I know there’s a lot of rumors out there.”

“I think your black and white question is, are you going after a phone? A lot of people want me to say no, but a lot of people want me to say yes, I get it. Here’s my take: it’s not necessarily [that] we’re going after a phone, no.”

“It’s a tricky question,” he added. “If I black and white say no, I would say that was accurate. But I also think it’s misleading.”

Much of Panay’s long-winded answer to the question hinges on changes to the smartphone form factor, which he says is “not going anywhere,” but is “going through some transformation, and will continue to do so over the next 10 years.” His hedgings could suggest that whatever Amazon is working on won’t quite be a phone as we know it. Little is known about the reported Transformer project, except that the team explored both smartphone and “dumbphone” designs, and that Amazon’s Alexa Plus AI assistant will be central to the device.

Discussing AI wearables, Panay said that “there’s a whole new set of form factors that we’re working on,” so perhaps the company’s phone plans fall within that. But it sounds like after Amazon’s bad experiences with the Fire Phone, and Panay’s own releasing the Surface Duo while at Microsoft, he’s not in a rush to release a straightforward smartphone again.