Amazon's next Echo speaker will reportedly focus on audio (AMZN)

amazon echo

Amazon is working on an updated version of its Echo speaker which will primarily focus on audio quality, Engadget reports.

The new Echo will allegedly be shorter and slimmer than the original, "almost as if it were three or four Echo Dots stacked on top of each other," the report says.

Amazon is also working on improved materials and overall design for the device, which will reportedly have more rounded edges and use a "cloth-like" covering, as opposed to the plastic of the current model.

More than anything else, however, is the Seattle company's commitment to better audio, seemingly to take away some of the hype from Apple's recently announced HomePod.

The new Echo, Engadget says, will use "several tweeters," instead of just one accompanied by a woofer for the low end as the current model does (the HomePod uses seven tweeters, for reference).

The company is also said to be working to improve voice input with new and better microphone technologies, although it is not clear exactly how Amazon is going to do it as of yet.

The current Echo uses a seven far-field microphones' array to listen from a distance, but Google's Home only uses two with similar results thanks to software and acoustic modeling.

There is no information on price, but Amazon plans to launch the new Echo some time this fall, Engadget says.

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