Amazon Has Several New Echo Speakers for You to Bark Commands At

Amazon is back with a few new Echo speakers. Debuting alongside a swath of new Ring doorbell and Blink security cameras, family of new Fire TVs, and the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, Amazon revealed the Echo Dot Max, a new Echo Studio, and two new smart displays, the Echo Show 8 and 11,. These are the first new pieces of Echo hardware after former Microsoft Surface chief Panos Panay took the helm of Amazon’s hardware last year.

This time around, Amazon is leaning into the use of its own custom silicon, the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chip, with its new Echo speakers, which will assist Alexa+, its premium home assistant that’s infused with a large language model similar to what’s used in ChatGPT.

The AZ3 chip powers the Echo Dot Max, while the Echo Studio and two new Echo Show smart displays use the more powerful AZ3 Pro chip. Amazon says the new chips are “designed to run AI edge models of the future to enable better conversation detection.â€

While a lot of the new capabilities will center around what you can do with Alexa+, there are some hardware upgrades that focus mostly on sound. In the Echo Dot Max, you’ll get two drivers, while the Echo Studio gives you more power with three drivers and a custom woofer in addition to spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. According to Amazon, the Echo Dot Max will get 3x the bass of the 5th-gen Echo Dot, and though the Echo Studio also gets updated hardware, it’s actually 40% smaller than the original.

Amazon also announced what it’s calling Alexa Home Theater, which connects up to five Echo speakers together so you can use your speakers to create a home theater. Amazon says both speakers will “come out of the box†with Alexa+, but it didn’t clarify whether that’s a limited trial that you’ll have to pay for eventually. Both the Echo Studio and the Echo Dot Max are available for preorder today. The Echo Studio costs $220, while the Echo Dot Max costs $100.

If neither of these speakers appeals to you, Amazon also launched the Echo Show 8 and the Echo Show 11, which are its new smart home hubs. Highlights here also have mainly to do with Amazon’s new silicon that can (hopefully) better run Alexa+ on-device and also the inclusion of a new 13-megapixel “autoframing†sensor. The Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 are $180 and $220, respectively.

While all Echo devices are available for preorder today, the Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio won’t be available for purchase until October 29, while the new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 are set to release on November 12.