Amazon executive interview casts doubt on new Fire Phone rumors

In the early 2010s, the smartphone industry was positively exploding, and brands everywhere were looking to get in on the action for themselves. HTC was building a “Facebook Phone” with dedicated buttons for the social media giant, and even Amazon attempted a Fire Phone of its own. Although this soon proved to be a high-profile disaster, earlier this year we started hearing rumors that Amazon was thinking about doing something else, and was working on a new smartphone project. But now, in a new interview, Amazon’s head of devices and services poured some cold water on those rumors.

At least, the interview with Panos Panay The Financial Times Makes that story quite complicated. In conversation with the outlet’s Rafe Rosner-Uddin, Panay discussed everything from Amazon’s satellite ambitions to self-driving robotaxis. At one point, this turns into Amazon’s ability to control what hardware users can access to its connected ecosystem, and while the company has things like Echo devices included in the home, phones still represent a clear differentiator.

Panay points out that even without direct ownership of this hardware, Amazon has still been very successful in getting hundreds of millions of users running its apps on their iPhones and Android handsets. But when pressed on the possibility of Amazon returning to the smartphone game, Panay deflected:

I guess your black and white question is, are you going after the 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 opinion: It’s not necessary that we’re going after a phone, no.

This is a little less than satisfactory, but also a response that makes a lot of sense in light of the broader context. Panay has clearly stated that Amazon making a new phone is not a goal in itself. If Amazon Phone will clearly help the company achieve its larger goals in terms of the connected home and the company’s retail efforts, then it seems like it’s a direction that could be considered — but not one that should be adopted as an end goal.

Panay also points to the changing size of devices, and how phones as we know them today could look quite different in 10 years – if they’re even our primary devices anymore.

There is no clear path that makes any sense. You just said, there are a lot of new form factors that are important that need to be focused on. This is a tricky question. If I didn’t say black and white, I would say it was accurate. But I also think it’s misleading.

Does this mean the next Amazon “phone” could be something like smart glasses? More than anything, it seems like Amazon wants to keep its options open, and is in no rush to repeat past mistakes of giving buyers a mobile device they never really asked for:

I will never do that again (go to the customer and say) it’s another phone. What do you think? there’s no point.

Would you like to give Amazon another chance to make phones? Or should the company stop thinking about mobile hardware and focus on smart home? Let us know in the comments below.