Amazon has refreshed its entire Alexa hardware range in one go. At an event in New York on October 28, 2026, the company unveiled five new devices: the Echo Show 16 smart display, a redesigned Echo Dot, an Echo Studio with a built-in camera, the Echo Time bedside clock and the Alexa Photo Frame. Every one runs the new conversational Alexa+, and every one doubles as a smart home hub with Matter, Thread and Zigbee built in.
The headline act is the Amazon Echo Show 16, a 16-inch display for the kitchen, the living room or the family wall. It costs $499.99, or $569.99 with a Nanomatte screen, and it is available to pre-order now with $100 off. Four of the five devices are already on sale in the United States; the Echo Show 16 itself ships later in 2026, with Amazon listing a December 16 release date. Apple launches its own $299 HomeView display on November 13, so the race for the kitchen counter is officially on.
The five new Amazon Echo devices at a glance
- Echo Show 16 — $499.99, or $569.99 with a Nanomatte display. Pre-order now, $100 off, shipping later in 2026.
- Echo Dot — $99.99, on sale now. Kids versions cost $109.99 and include a year of Amazon Kids+.
- Echo Studio with Home Camera — $249.99, on sale now. The regular Echo Studio without a camera stays on sale at $219.99.
- Echo Time — $199.99, on sale now.
- Alexa Photo Frame — $199.99 in black, or $229 with Birch or Walnut wood frames. On sale now.
All five support Alexa+ — free with Prime, or $19.99 a month on its own — and some features on each device need it.
Amazon Echo Show 16: a 16-inch hub for the whole family
The Amazon Echo Show 16 is the biggest smart display Amazon has ever made, built to be shared. Its 16-inch full HD screen combines three jobs that used to need three devices: a family organiser, a smart home dashboard and a television.
Fire TV is built in, so the Show 16 works as a small kitchen or bedroom TV without a separate streaming stick. A 13-megapixel camera with night vision handles video calls, and three Screen Styles switch between Family Organizer, Smart Home and Photos modes, covering calendars, tasks and every connected device on one screen.
It is designed to live on a wall: VESA mounting holes, a wall mount in the box, and a remote control included. A counter stand costs extra — $69.99 or $124.99 — taking the total to around $625. At $499.99 this is a premium product; The Verge called it “eye-wateringly expensive”, double the price of the $250 Echo Show 11.
Echo Dot: the $100 speaker that is now a smart home hub
The new Echo Dot looks familiar — the same soft sphere — but almost everything inside it has changed. It is the first Echo Dot powered by Amazon’s AZ3 chip with an AI Accelerator, it gains a fourth microphone, and Amazon claims 50 percent more bass than the previous model.
The bigger change is what the Dot now does for the rest of the house. For the first time, the entry-level Echo has a built-in smart home hub with Zigbee, Matter and Thread support, working as a Thread Border Router so it can connect low-power devices directly without a separate hub. It also contains an eero Wi-Fi extender that Amazon says adds up to 1,000 square feet of coverage.
There is a catch, and it is the price. The Echo Dot cost $50 until August 20, 2026, then $80 after an August rise — and the new model now starts at $99.99, twice what the entry-level Dot cost three months ago. Kids versions cost $109.99 and include a year of Amazon Kids+.
For anyone starting a smart home, that built-in hub changes the maths: a $99.99 Dot can replace a separate hub that used to cost $50 or more. Our guide to the best smart home devices for beginners in 2026 is a good place to start.
Echo Studio with Home Camera: great sound, plus eyes
The Echo Studio has always been Amazon’s best-sounding smart speaker, and the new version adds a camera. The Echo Studio with Home Camera costs $249.99 and pairs Dolby Atmos spatial audio and adaptive room sound with a 13-megapixel camera. Alexa+ can identify objects placed in front of it and answer questions about them, and you can check on a room remotely through the Alexa app. The regular Echo Studio without a camera stays on sale at $219.99.
Echo Time: a bedside clock that watches you sleep
The Echo Time is the most unusual device in the new range: a camera-free bedside clock with a 3.2-inch circular touchscreen, hundreds of customisable clock faces, and a trick no other Echo has — wearable-free sleep sensing. Instead of wearing a tracker to bed, it senses your sleep from the bedside table, and pairs that with sunrise-style smart alarms that wake you gradually. It costs $199.99 and is on sale now.
Alexa Photo Frame: your photos, chosen by AI
The Alexa Photo Frame is a 10-inch digital photo frame that syncs with Amazon Photos and lets Alexa+ do the curating: ask for pictures of a person, a place or a feeling, and it picks and displays them. It costs $199.99 in black, or $229 with Birch or Walnut wood frames, and comes with 90 days of Alexa+ included.
Alexa+ and Alexa Home Map
All five devices run on Alexa+, the conversational assistant Amazon has been rolling out through 2026. Amazon says it can hold more natural conversations, ask clarifying questions and handle multi-step requests — dimming the lights, lowering the thermostat and setting a reminder in one sentence — and that hundreds of millions of customers already use it. The new hardware also introduces Alexa Home Map, a 3D view of your home for controlling devices by tapping where they sit. But note the fine print: certain features require Alexa+, free for Prime members and $19.99 a month without Prime, so non-Prime buyers should factor the subscription into the real cost
Echo Show 16 vs Apple HomeView: the $200 question
The obvious comparison is Apple’s HomeView, on sale November 13 for $299 — $200 less than the Echo Show 16. It has a smaller 7-inch display, but it recognises up to six users by face and gives each a personalised Home Screen, and it is deeply tied into the iPhone, HomeKit and Apple Intelligence.
On paper, Amazon wins on screen size and entertainment, while Apple wins on privacy and polish. We covered the Apple HomeView in detail — including code that hints at future AI chatbot apps — and it is worth reading before you choose a side. The two devices are aimed at different households: if your home runs on Alexa and Prime, the Echo range is the natural upgrade; if it runs on iPhone and HomeKit, the HomeView is the obvious pick. Buying into the wrong ecosystem is the expensive mistake — not the choice between two screens.
The catch: ads and privacy
There is one thing Amazon does not advertise about the Echo Show 16: the display is designed to show sponsored adverts and promotional content, and unlike the Echo Dot, the ads cannot be avoided. Anyone who has watched Amazon Prime Video recently will recognise the pattern.
That is the trade-off at the heart of this launch. Amazon’s devices are cheaper than Apple’s at the entry level, but Amazon’s business is built on data and advertising in a way Apple’s is not — and the Echo Show 16 puts that business model on the wall of your kitchen. If that bothers you, the Echo Dot and Echo Time are the safer picks — speakers and clocks without a screen full of promotions.
Which new Echo should you buy?
- Starting a smart home? Buy the Echo Dot at $99.99 — the built-in Zigbee, Matter and Thread hub plus the eero extender make it the best value in the range.
- Want the big screen? Pre-order the Echo Show 16 while the $100 discount lasts, but budget for the stand if you will not wall-mount it.
- Love music? The Echo Studio with Home Camera at $249.99 is the pick — unless a camera in the living room puts you off, in which case the regular Studio at $219.99 is the same speaker.
- Need a bedside clock? The Echo Time at $199.99 is the only one with sleep sensing and no camera.
What happens next
The Echo Show 16 ships later in 2026 — Amazon lists December 16 — and the $100 pre-order discount will not last forever. Apple’s HomeView arrives on November 13, and Black Friday will almost certainly cut prices on both. Amazon has not announced UK or Canadian prices consistently, so buyers outside the US should wait for a local listing rather than converting US prices.
Amazon has bet that the smart home’s future is a screen in every room, with an AI assistant behind it. Whether the Echo Show 16 is worth $499.99 depends on how much of your home already runs on Alexa — and how comfortable you are with adverts on the kitchen wall.