Remember the Fire Phone? Released more than a decade ago, Amazon’s first foray into the world of consumer-grade smartphones was nothing short of disastrous, and it was no surprise that the company has since left the market altogether, although that seems to be changing in the near future.
According to new reports from Reuters, new information strongly indicates that the e-commerce company is looking to have another go at making its own first-party smartphone. While Amazon has not officially commented on the matter, it’s now strongly believed that the company has begun initial preparations for development on the device, which at the moment is supposedly referred to as project “Transformer”.
The phone is expected to feature heavily AI-integrated software, and will be designed to put Amazon’s shopping and content services (like Prime Video and Music) first and foremost for users.
Launched back in 2014, the Amazon Fire Phone featured somewhat unique hardware by way of a multi-camera setup, as well as a consumer-focused software approach; it was also pretty expensive going for $650 off-contract. Poor sales in addition to a number of other issues eventually led to Amazon discontinuing sales a year later.