Back in June, Amazon finally unveiled its long-awaited smartphone, the Fire phone. While the actual unveiling was somewhat impressive, as it showed off some interesting features that we hadn’t seen on other phones, the reviews weren’t very kind once people actually got the device in their hands.
It’s no secret that the Fire phone hasn’t been a hot seller, and the price has even been reduced to $199 without a contract.
Some reviewers suggested that we not give up on Amazon, as it could likely make major improvements with future models. This was just the first run. They company does, after all, seem to be doing a lot better with its tablets. It might be a while before we see the next model of the Fire phone, however.
VentureBeat reports that Amazon won’t release the next version of the device until 2016, but does indicate that one is in the works. Mark Sullivan writes:
Amazon has been working on the phone for months, but, thrown back on its heels by the frighteningly poor sales of the first Fire phone, has “gone back to the drawing board” as one source puts it. Amazon is trying to figure out which features to put in the new phone that will make it a success.
Just because we won’t see the next device for at least another year, doesn’t mean Amazon can’t continue to improve the one it’s already released. Software updates can go a long way toward making a device better in a variety of areas, and the company has already been at work on that.
As reported last week, Amazon just pushed an update adding a number of features. Surely there will be more of these updates in the year to come.
Image via Amazon
