Amazon Has A Rumored Alexa-Powered AirPods Competitor Waiting In The Wings
Amazon may be getting ready to inject its popular Alexa digital assistant into a pair of wireless earbuds. They would be similar to Apple's premium wireless AirPods, except users would be able to summon Alexa with their voice to play music, look up the weather, and of course order goods from Amazon's ever-expanding catalog of items.
Alexa is finding itself in an increasing number of places these days—in January, Amazon SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed that over 100 million devices with Alexa on board had been sold. The digital assistant is also constantly being upgraded with new skills.
Amazon's rumored wireless earbuds would sit in the ear without a hook, just like Apple's AirPods shown above
People who claim to have knowledge of Amazon's plans told Bloomberg that Amazon's upcoming earbuds with Alexa inside will look and function similarly to Apple's AirPods. These would be wireless earbuds that nudge into ears without a clip. However, Amazon's engineers are aiming to up the ante with better audio.
That suggests to me that Amazon's earbuds would be a premium product, and priced accordingly, though nothing was said about that. For reference, though, Apple charges $159 for its AirPods with a charging case, and $199 for a set of AirPods with a wireless charging case (which can be purchased as a standalone product for $79).
Amazon probably would not go that high, as it has a tendency to come in lower than the competition. But if the audio is better than the AirPods, I don't anticipate Amazon's earbuds being a budget product. Time will tell, assuming these do in fact exist.
As with the AirPods, Amazon's earbuds will come with a storage case that acts as a charger. So far Amazon has been testing its earbuds in black and gray color options.
It is easy to see why Amazon would be interested in this category. Wireless earbuds are becoming a big business, having contributed to Apple's $17.4 billion in accessories revenue last year. Samsung is also getting into the wireless earbuds game with its Galaxy Buds, and Google has its Pixel Buds.
