Amazon Goes Affordable With Its New Echo Speakers and Earbuds

In a surprise move, Amazon is refreshing its Echo lineup with three affordable new products—the Echo Pop, Echo Buds (2023 Model), and Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen). It’s an interesting change of pace, especially when you consider the bevy of premium devices that Amazon debuted last fall.

The Echo Pop smart speaker clocks in at $40, providing a slightly-cheaper alternative to the $50 Echo Dot. Of course, it offers all the features that you’d expect from an Echo speaker, including Alexa smart home compatibility, voice control, and audio streaming. It can also extend the reach of your Eero mesh Wi-Fi system, and it uses Matter to ensure compatibility with a wide range of products.

It’s clear that Amazon cut costs by using a directional speaker design. Amazon’s more expensive Echo speakers use an omnidirectional design to achieve a “room filling” sound. (Personally, I’ve always preferred directional speakers, so I don’t see this as a downgrade. But I haven’t tested the Echo Pop, so I can’t comment on its sound quality.)

The refreshed Echo Buds are also quite interesting, and they only cost $40. Amazon promises a “rich” and “balanced” sound through its 12mm drivers and “semi-in-ear” design. Plus, users can enjoy multipoint Bluetooth (you can connect to two devices at once), customizable tap controls, Find My Echo Buds tracking, and on-the-go access to Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri. Unfortunately, the so-called “long-lasting battery life” caps out at just 20 hours with the charging case, and advanced features like ANC are missing.

As for the third-gen Echo Show 5—well, it’s not too different from the previous model. Coming in at $90, this smart display uses a new AZ2 Neural Edge processor for “20% faster” performance, plus an improved speaker system and a more effective microphone array. It also adds Matter support, and parents can purchase an Echo Show 5 Kids model if they wish.

You can pre-order all of these products today. The Echo Pop and Echo Show 5 start shipping on May 31st, while the refreshed Echo Buds begin shipping on June 7th.

Source: Amazon