If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your smart speaker, Amazon has just announced four brilliant reasons to switch to something new. The US retailer unveiled its redesigned Amazon Echo lineup at a glitzy event in New York City alongside an affordable Fire TV Stick and new Smart TVs.
The new lineup includes the Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11.
All of these AI-fuelled speakers come with custom-designed chipsets that enable better conversation detection, which Amazon says is “one of the most important yet challenging parts of building an ambient AI that anyone can talk to from anywhere in the room”. With this new silicon, these new Alexa speakers should be around 50% better at hearing that all-important wake word, the US company claims.
If you’re unable to raise Alexa without barking across the room with your current smart speaker, these new models could be the solution. Amazon claims to have future-proofed its new Echo devices ready for upcoming advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the addition of an “AI Accelerator” that it says has been “designed to run AI edge models of the future.”
That’ll help when the new, more personalised and proactive Alexa+ experience becomes available in the UK. This next-generation AI assistant was announced earlier this year in the United States and costs $19.99 per month (roughly £14.99) for new users. There’s no word on when Alexa+ will release in the UK, or how much it’ll cost. If you don’t want to add another Direct Debit to your account, the original Alexa remains free to use.
Sound performance has been improved across the new lineup, but Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio one-up the other models with support for 5.1 surround sound via Alexa Home Theatre — letting you power your next movie night with Echo speakers dotted around the room.
You can preorder Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11 in the UK now, ahead of the release scheduled later this month.
Echo Dot Max shares the new spherical design with the Echo Studio, but ships in a few more colours
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Echo Dot Max
As the name suggests, this builds upon the popular Echo Dot to deliver almost 3x the bass of the standard Dot.
For the first time, Amazon has reworked the internals of the Echo Dot to squeeze in two separate speakers, with a high-excursion woofer for plenty of oomph from the bass and a custom tweeter for crisper high notes.
The company explains: “We also rearchitected the sound system. The new design eliminates the separate speaker module, integrating the speaker directly into the device housing to double the air space for fuller bass. The result is a compact speaker that still packs a punch.
Echo Dot Max arrives with 3x more bass than its predecessor, the Echo Dot (fifth-generation) released on October 20, 2022 in the UK
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Amazon is promising “room-filling sound that automatically adapts to your space” from this diddy speaker. Of course, you’ll also enjoy all of the improvements to Alexa’s ability to hear you speaking from the other side of the room, thanks to the new chipset and far-field microphone working together to filter out unwanted background noise.
Echo Dot Max costs £99.99, although you can save 20% on that price if you trade-in a previous Echo speaker at checkout.
Be one of the first to own Echo Dot Max
The redesigned Echo Dot Max was built from the ground up to deliver rich, room-filling sound that automatically adapts to your space and fine-tunes playback. With 3x more bass performance than the Echo Dot (fifth-generation) released three years ago, this new model comes equipped with Amazon’s custom-designed AZ3 chip for fast performance and Alexa+ support. The first Echo Dot Max devices will be sent out later this month
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Echo Dot Max
The new Echo Studio is almost unrecognisable with its new spherical design, which reduces the footprint by 40% but bolsters the Dolby Atmos sound performance from this AI-powered speaker
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Echo Studio
This new generation of Echo Studio looks unrecognisable compared to its predecessor. Amazon has redesigned its beefiest speaker, which goes toe-to-toe with the likes of the Sonos Era 100, so that it occupies a 40% smaller footprint but somehow packs even more of a punch.
To achieve that, Amazon opted for a spherical design, wrapped in a new fabric material knitted to maintain the ultimate acoustic transparency.
Echo Studio supports Spatial Audio, the three-dimensional sound technology that maps out audio around you, so that instruments and vocals seem to surround you from a variety of directions and distances – mimicking a real-life concert. There’s also Dolby Atmos support built-in too.
Here’s the clever bit – you can link up to five of these speakers (or five Echo Dot Max speakers) with a Fire TV Stick to create your own immersive home cinema system. The spherical Echo Studio costs £219.99 and starts shipping on October 29, 2025.
Be one of the first to own Echo Studio
Unrecognisable with new knit-covered, spherical design, the Echo Studio was created to deliver immersive spatial sound, while Dolby Atmos adds space, clarity and depth to make your entertainment even better. You can link-up multiple Echo Studio or Echo Dot Max devices together to enjoy a 5.1 surround sound system for your next movie night — adding powerful bass and crystal-clear vocals. Everything is powered by AZ3 Pro chip for advanced performance and support for advanced Alexa+ features coming soon. The first Echo Studio speakers will be sent out later this month
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Echo Studio
The new-look Echo Show is available with a choice of 8.7-inch or 11-inch touchscreen display
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Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11
The new Echo Show devices are where things get really interesting. Both the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 feature new high-density displays with over a million pixels. Amazon redesigned these new panels from the ground up with in-cell touch technology and negative liquid crystal displays – in a nutshell, these improvements mean you’ll enjoy exceptional picture quality whether you’re in bright sunlight or a dimly lit room.
Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 benefit from better viewing angles too, so you’ll still enjoy a crisp, colourful experience on-screen when peering from the other side of the room — helpful with a smart home device like this, where you’re rarely sitting at the optimal angle, unlike watching a television.
At the top of these fancy new screens is a 13-megapixel camera for crystal-clear video calls.
Amazon’s new (optional) adjustable stand costs £34.99 and lets you quickly swivel around the Echo Show 8 or Show 11 so that it’s in the correct position to use the touchscreen or look at the person on the video call
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The audio’s been completely overhauled too, with front-facing stereo speakers and custom woofers delivering room-filling spatial audio. Amazon says: “Both devices include new front-facing stereo speakers and a custom woofer for room-filling spatial audio that make them our best-sounding smart displays available when they launch. The full-range drivers are strategically placed under the floating displays and are meticulously designed to fire audio frontwards to deliver incredibly clear sound directly toward the customer.”
They’ll set you back £179.99 for the Echo Show 8 and £219.99 for the Echo Show 11, with both arriving on November 12, 2025.
To pair with these new Echo Show models, Amazon has designed an adjustable stand — sold separately for £34.99 — that complements the new-look device’s design and colour. It swivels the Echo Show device, so that it’s always in the correct position to interact with the new touchscreen.
Be one of the first to own all-new Echo Show 8
Despite the name, the Echo Show 8 boasts an almost 8.7-inch screen size. With a vibrant new HD panel with wider viewing angles and powerful AZ3 Pro chip for faster performance, this gadget is designed to be the centre of your smart home — allowing you to make and recieve calls via the 13MP front-facing camera, control music playback across your speakers, view a live feed from a doorbell camera, add reminders, check the calendar, and more with a few taps.. or using voice assistant Alexa. The first models ship on November 12, 2025
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Echo Show 8
Be one of the first to own all-new Echo Show 11
Enjoy all of the same improvements as above, but experience everything on a larger 11-inch touchscreen. Amazon says its larger “display makes it easy to see recipes and calendars at a glance, find meal inspo, and manage your shopping lists”. The 11″ HD screen can double up as a digital photo frame when not in use too. The first models ship on November 12, 2025
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Echo Show 11