Amazon developing Echo speaker with 7-inch touchscreen

AMAZON is reportedly working on a more premium Echo speaker for next year, planning to add a 7-inch display for extra convenience and functionality.

The Amazon Echo line featuring Amazon’s Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant has proven to be quite popular on the tech scene, and an upgraded model with a touch screen display would surely boost its appeal even further.

As Bloomberg reports, the premium Amazon Echo planned for 2017 will work with Alexa much like the existing Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Tap do, but it will include a 7-inch display for quick access to various information such as calendar, weather forecast and other such.

This concept of an Amazon Echo smart speaker with Alexa support and a 7-inch touch display sounds like a merger between Amazon’s Echo speaker and Fire tablets, which is not that surprising. Just recently, Amazon unleashed Alexa on mobile, making the voice-controlled assistant available on Fire tablets.

Further backing up the theory of an Echo — Fire combo is Bloomberg’s claim that the next-generation Amazon Echo with touch screen will run an optimized Fire OS version.

In addition to the touch screen display, the next-generation Amazon Echo will reportedly boast new speakers of superior quality compared to the existing Amazon Echo. The new Amazon Echo will reportedly “tilt upwards” to allow for easier touch control when it’s placed on a counter, for instance.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon will unveil its new Echo speaker sometime in the first quarter of 2017. Considering the notable improvements, however, expect this upgraded model to cost significantly more than the current Amazon Echo.