Amazon is reportedly planning to give its Alexa speaker line a boost.
Citing two unnamed sources, Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that the Web giant is working on a premium "Echo-like speaker with a screen." This new model probably won't look a lot like the cylindrical-shaped Echo, or its shorter sibling the Echo Dot, however, as it's said to have a 7-inch touchscreen.
In terms of design, the upcoming speaker "will be larger and tilt upwards so the screen can be seen when it sits on a counter and the user is standing." This should make it easy to view weather, news, your calendar, or maybe one of those 60,000 recipes. It's also expected to boast "high-grade speakers" for better sound.
Does that sound like something you might need in your life? If this thing is legit, it shouldn't be too long before we know more: Amazon is reportedly planning to unveil the device as soon as the first quarter of 2017.
As for whether that will actually come to pass remains to be seen. Amazon has not made an official announcement about the device and when asked by PCMag for comment on the report, the company responded by saying "As a matter of company policy, we don't comment on rumors and speculation." Amazon earlier declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
The report notes that Amazon is developing this new premium model to "fend off competition" from Google and Apple. Google is now selling its own Amazon Echo competitor, Home, whose design is inspired by wine glasses and candles.
Apple is also thought to be building a Siri-based smart home device to rival Echo. Cupertino is said to be using more advanced microphone and speaker technology than Amazon's current gadgets, and may also employ facial recognition to help identify who is in the room or a person's emotional state.