Amazon Announces Alexa+ Enhancements at 2025 Devices and Services Event
Key Points
- Alexa+ Greetings debut on Ring 2K and 4K devices in December, using image recognition to personalize visitor interactions.
- Vega OS integration enables Alexa+ to locate specific movie scenes and provide live‑sports updates.
- Kindle Colorsoft and Scribe 3 users will soon converse with Alexa+ about notes and documents.
- 2025 Echo lineup (Dot Max, Studio, Show 8, Show 11) equipped with AZ3/ AZ3 Pro chips for faster voice processing.
- New third‑party partners—including Fandango, Uber, Lyft—join the Alexa+ Store, with additional brand collaborations announced.
- Alexa+ shopping widget tracks Amazon, Whole Foods, and Amazon Fresh orders and answers product queries.
- Echo Dot Max and Studio ship on October 29; Echo Show 8 and Show 11 arrive on November 12, all with early Alexa+ access.
At its Devices and Services event, Amazon unveiled a suite of Alexa+ updates across its ecosystem. Ring’s new 2K and 4K devices will gain Alexa+ Greetings, letting the assistant recognize friends, family, and strangers. Alexa+ is embedded in Vega, Amazon’s new smart‑TV operating system, enabling personalized content searches and scene‑specific queries. Kindle users will soon converse with Alexa+ about notes and documents stored on Kindle devices. The refreshed 2025 Echo lineup ships with new AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips for faster voice processing, and a growing roster of third‑party partners appears in the Alexa+ Store. A new shopping widget expands purchase tracking, and the updated devices are slated for release in October and November.
Alexa+ Greetings Expand to Ring Devices
Amazon introduced Alexa+ Greetings, a feature that will roll out to Ring’s new 2K and 4K devices in December. Leveraging Ring’s image‑recognition technology, the assistant can differentiate between known visitors and strangers, offering personalized greetings to friends and family while asking questions of unknown guests. It also provides delivery instructions, enabling couriers to leave packages in designated locations.
Vega Integration Brings Conversational TV Experiences
Alexa+ is now built directly into Vega, Amazon’s new smart‑TV operating system. The integration delivers more personalized recommendations and lets users ask the assistant to locate specific scenes in movies. In a demo, the assistant retrieved a precise moment from a film after a voice request. The capability extends to live sports, where fans can request real‑time updates on teams and events.
Kindle Content Becomes Conversational
Later in the year, Kindle users will be able to send notes and documents from Kindle Colorsoft or Scribe 3 to Alexa+. This will allow a dialogue about the contents of those files, enhancing the reading and note‑taking experience.
New Echo Line Optimized for Alexa+
The refreshed 2025 Echo lineup—including the Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8, and Echo Show 11—is marketed as “designed for Alexa+.” All models feature the new AZ3 and AZ3 Pro chips, which Amazon says improve voice processing speed and boost wake‑word detection by over 50 percent. Early access to Alexa+ comes pre‑installed on these devices.
Expanded Third‑Party Ecosystem
Amazon highlighted new third‑party integrations available through the Alexa+ Store, adding partners such as Fandango, Uber, and Lyft. The company also noted collaborations with brands like Bose, Sonos, Samsung, and automakers including BMW to bring Alexa+ to their devices.
Shopping Widget Enhances Purchase Management
A new Alexa+ shopping widget will let users track Amazon, Whole Foods, and Amazon Fresh purchases, including scheduled deliveries. The assistant can search the entire Amazon catalog and answer product‑related questions.
Availability Timeline
The Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio are set to ship on October 29, while the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 will become available on November 12. All four devices will ship with early access to Alexa+ out of the box.