The Amazon Fire Phone Might Be Coming Back After Its Historic Flop

In June 2014, the original Amazon Fire Phone hit the market with the intention of competing directly with the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Amazon went so far as to develop its own mobile operating system — known as Fire OS — and manufactured 300,000 Fire Phone devices in time for launch day. Ultimately, the Fire Phone was a commercial failure. Amazon stopped selling the device entirely in September 2015, and it became a nearly-forgotten footnote in the company's history.

Now, Reuters reports that Amazon is working on a project known internally as "Transformer." The project is unfolding within Amazon's devices and services unit. Sources indicate that "Transformer" is a phone that potentially works as a "mobile personalization device that can sync with home voice assistant Alexa and serve as a conduit to Amazon customers throughout the day."

Reuters describes this new initiative as a step toward CEO Jeff Bezos' vision of a "ubiquitous voice-driven assistant." Bezos reportedly envisioned a smartphone that had shopping at its core. Considering the supposed intention for "Transformer" to sync deeply with the Amazon ecosystem, it certainly could carry on the spirit of the original Fire Phone and Bezos' goal of breaking into the smartphone market. It will no longer be a simple question of whether Samsung or Google phones are better once Amazon gets back in the mix.

Amazon's troubles with the original Fire Phone began before the device even went on sale. Development started in 2010, four long years before the device was actually released. The process took so long that it became necessary to revamp the device's specs and processor partway through. The original design simply would not have been competitive with any of the phones that were coming out at the time.

When the Fire Phone finally launched, it did a decent job of differentiating itself from its competitors. It featured a unique "Dynamic Perspective" capability that allowed users to scroll through web pages and interact dynamically with other on-screen elements by making gestures. The phone responded accordingly without the user having to touch the screen, and it was able to create a perspective that made images seem three-dimensional. Despite these novel innovations, though, analysis from the phone's post-launch window in 2014 suggests that barely 35,000 units were sold.

Since abandoning the original Fire Phone in 2015, Amazon has found notable success in the smart devices market. The Echo Spot became one of Amazon's best smart home devices with its release in 2024. Kindle tablets got new Alexa features recently, too, showing that Amazon is able and willing to support its growing ecosystem of devices and features. With the current recognizability of the Fire brand and the widespread buy-in into the Amazon ecosystem, a hypothetical new Fire Phone could have greater viability if Project Transformer actually pans out.