Amazon is developing a new smartphone over a decade after discontinuing the Fire Phone, Reuters reported today, citing four anonymous “people familiar with the matter.”

Reuters said the phone is codenamed Transformer but couldn’t confirm what it might cost, how much Amazon has invested into development thus far, or how much Amazon expects to make off the device. Like any product reportedly under development, it’s possible that Amazon will never release the phone. Reuters’ sources noted that Transformer could be cancelled over finances or a change in strategy.

When reached for comment by Ars Technica, an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on Reuters’ report.

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[–] 2 points 7 months ago

With my whole chest, fuck that shit.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Zero thanks, thanks.

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  • 48 comments in c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world view that post
    [+] 83 points 7 months ago (2 children)
  • [+] 45 points 7 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 33 points 7 months ago

    Amazon apparently has decided it has way too much capital on its hands, so it wants to pile it up a ton of cash out in the backyard, douse it with gasoline, and then smirk like a little imp as it strikes a match.

    More power to 'em, I guess?

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  • [–] 18 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    "Alexa call an ambulance!"

    Ordered an amber lance, Prime delivery in eight hours

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  • [–] 17 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Didn't they fail at phones once already

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  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 17 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    low prices.

    Oh. That's the angle.

    Amazon will basically give these away, like Prime. And at least some people will lap them up because they can't help themselves.

    With absolutely zero offense intented, I just saw another Lemmy user complain about ads on Prime Video, apparently unaware that they're now gated by an additional subscription. And any Lemmy user has to be in the top 1% of "enshittification awareness." That was always the plan, but our monkey brains often cannot help themselves when we see a short-term deal.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago

    Even if this thing HAD a 3.5mm jack, I'd send this junk back.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Thanks, I hate it.

    Didn’t learn anything from the failed Fire Phone garbage?

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago

    Gross. I also saw some laptops labeld as AI powered.

    Immediate pass.

    I don't need my tech to be telling me 2+2=5

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago

    The only people that are asking for this bought the fire phone

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Oh yes! A smartphone for continuous surveillance of people. This world is ending. 

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago

    No app store, have to rely on Alexa, who is definitely collecting and storing your personal data to do things by telling it everything, and a year ago they changed their terms so you can't opt out of your Alexa recordings being automatically sent to Amazon... every day billionaires are closer and closer to successfully turning our phones into telescreens.

    And I bet the phone is gonna be full of ads and product placement too, if it happens. I know before I finally ditched my Alexa over a year ago it was trying to suggest shit for me to buy I didn't need.

    "Alexa phone, call the doctor, I'm sick I need an ap—"

    "You sure? This pack of cold medicine on Amazon has 5 star reviews, and is much cheaper than your doctor visit! Would you like me to add it to your cart for same-day delivery?"

    Like. That's maybe a little more time down the line in dystopian hypotheticals, but the vague implications behind the AI doing everything so you don't have to gives up so much free will, and I'm just saying... it's a power grab disguised as efficiency. Ugh.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago* (5 children)

    Don't forget they gimped all their FireTV devices lately, you would have to be mad to buy an Amazon phone.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Wait, what did they do? Did I miss more bullshit?

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Ah damn it. I got a fire tv a few years ago bc I could side load apps onto it unlike a Roku tv. Hopefully they don’t take down smart tube at least :/

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Yeah were kinda fucked ATP for "good" smart TV stuff. You could DIY it with an old PC or raspberry pi but unless we see a push for it from a major player (Like Graphene partnering with Motorola) itll probably be like this for the foreseeable future.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago

    Also, these could be interesting as a "dirt cheap phone to root."

    Amazon will subsidize the snot out of them. I'll take their money, thanks very much.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Remember the Fire Phone? It’s back, in slop form!

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago

    nothing but ewaste that we will end up paying for. can these companies honestly just... fuck off already. nothing but cancer.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    It has not yet been officially reported that I'm developing plans to purchase a Motorola device with Graphene on it. This project has been codenamed "Fuck Google".

    A key focus of this effort is the synergy around a phone without corporate AI, without Google control, and readily available by preinstallation on the device. Research shows this "preinstalled" approach scores highly in the WAF scoring index.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Because their last hype-based smartphone did so well.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    I’ll put this right next to my Facebook and Microsoft phones

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Fire Phone 2

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago
    [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    Wow, people will surely buy this. It most certainly won't end up a huge blunder for Amazon.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    We’re looking forward to the launch of the new Amazon kindle ai phone! It’ll be the industry leading standard in how to read the customer base And completely fucking flop within 24 hours

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)
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    [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Just what we've all been wanting!

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  • [+] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    No one's asked for this

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Isnt this everything at the moment?

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Ahahaha.

    They say everything we buy is a kind of signal to our peers.

    This will be, as well.

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  • 3 comments in c/technology@lemmy.zip view that post
    [–] 21 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Oh, this should be fun, especially when it flops as hard as the fire phone did.

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  • 1 comment in c/hardware@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 11 points 7 months ago

    Lol fuck that

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