In the week's least surprising news, Amazon’s reinvention of its Alexa voice assistant has reportedly fallen even further behind. According to Bloomberg, the launch of a new Alexa — billed as a smarter, more capable AI-powered voice assistant — has been pushed back. Again. “A person familiar with the matter said Alexa AI teams were recently told that their target deadline had been moved into 2025,” writes Bloomberg.
In June, Fortune reported that the AI-powered Alexa — which Amazon demoed last September and said would be available for a free preview on its Alexa-fitted devices in the U.S. — is not even close to being ready. Former employees told the publication that the company doesn’t have enough data nor access to the chips needed to run the large language model (LLM) powering the new version of its voice assistant. The company also reportedly deprioritized Alexa AI to focus on building generative AI for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services.
Amazon said its former employees are incorrect and uninformed on its current Alexa AI efforts, and that the Amazon Artificial General Intelligence team has access to both in-house Trainium chips and Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs).
“We have already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa, and are working hard on implementation at scale—in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices,” an Amazon spokesperson previously told Quartz in a statement. “We are excited about what we’re building and look forward to delivering it for our customers.”
On Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call, Jassy said Amazon has a “very deep partnership with Nvidia” and plans to “be their lead partner on most of their new chips.” Production of the second version of Amazon’s training chips, Trainium, will start ramping up in the next few weeks, Jassy said.
Bloomberg reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has yet to convey a compelling vision for an AI-powered Alexa to the company. While he’s said publicly, “We continue to re-architect the brain of Alexa ... ”, there’s been scant information about what an LLM-powered Alexa will bring to its millions of users — beyond being able to converse more naturally. More importantly, it seems Amazon has yet to prove it can do this without diminishing the features customers use the assistant for every day.
While the company searches for its vision, Jassy has installed a new head of the devices and services division under which Alexa falls. Panos Panay has been at the company for a year now, and Bloomberg reports the former head of Microsoft’s Surface division has “brought a focus on higher-quality design to a group adept at utilitarian gadgets.”
Amazon's prior tact of making copious amounts of cheap hardware at the expense of better software is partly why Alexa hasn’t gotten measurably smarter over the last decade. However, with better hardware and a focus on building on Alexa’s strength, rather than simply turning it into a chatbot, the company could recapture Jeff Bezos’s original vision of creating Star Trek’s “Computer.” But whatever the plan is for a new Alexa, it looks like it won't be here anytime soon.
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In a major shift of its release cycle, Google has revealed that Android 16 will be released in Q2 of 2025. Google typically pushes out a new major release of Android in Q3 or Q4, but the company has decided to move next year’s major release up by a few months so more devices will get the update sooner.
Google's updates kicked off by highlighting the future of its Android SDK. In a blog post, the company states it will bring "more frequent" SDK releases, beginning in 2025. Google states it will have a "major" release in Q2 that contains "behavior changes" for apps. This seems to be Android 16 as Google states developers should keep their eyes out for more information regarding its first preview. The company states app developers can prepare for the major Q2 2025 release by conducting the "annual compatibility testing" a few months sooner.
The minor SDK release in Q4 2025 will contain feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes to clean up any issues with the intended major Q2 launch.
Q1 and Q3 2025 will be minor, offering "feature only" updates to developers, per Google's set timeline.
A commit message generation feature lets the AI analyze your changes and propose its own set of alterations. "Rethink and rename" lets Gemini generate names for your coding classes, methods, and variables. "Prompt Library" enables the AI to "automatically" save and manage a user's most frequently used prompts for easy recall. Users can also generate documentation for a select chunk of code by right-clicking.
In the Android Studio, Gemini can now auto-generate "composable" previews and simplify the visualization process for your intended UI. Moreover, "coming soon," Google says Gemini in Android Studio will support image attachments.
As Gemini in Android Studio picks up a Ladybug feature drop, developers can weed out bugs quicker and (hopefully) see fewer crashes. Additional features include test scenarios using local code context, build/sync error insights, and app quality insights for suggested crash fixes.
In a separate blog post, the company states it's changing how apps are displayed on its store. These new formats include a full-screen mode for portrait videos in an app store listing. Google states a more "prominent" install button should now be visible to users.
Google highlights the Play Store's "personalized" query recommendations. According to the post, users can find these recommended search queries via the "Search Home." This is available for English with support for additional languages set to arrive "soon this year."
Google's "interest picker" arrived to help the Play Store understand where your interests are for accurate recommendations. The company rolled out a similar tool for games in July.
The post adds that the Play Store delivers a more robust security system when purchasing content. The company says users can now choose "on-device biometrics" when purchasing an app. This includes deciding between using your fingerprint or face to authenticate a purchase instead of inputting your account's password.
The final two updates for the Play Store involve boosting revenue for developers and their apps alongside Play Integrity API upgrades. Concerning the former, Google states that it has "proactively" encouraged users to assign a payment method on the Play Store and within the Android OS. This has reportedly "doubled the number of purchases" in 2024 and provided a nearly 3% increase in conversion rate.
Payment options have continued to expand as users find options like Paypal, Cash App, direct carrier billing, and more. Additionally, Google highlights its Play Store algorithm for pushing what content users might buy as additional content for their favorite apps.
Google also highlighted its "gentle nudge," an alert that reminds users of an item they've forgotten in their cart.
Google states, "in the coming months," developers can opt into improved Play Integrity API verdicts to bolster their app's defenses. What's more, Google's "app access risk" feature has exited beta. Developers can now "detect and respond" to apps that capture a user's screen or control their device to avoid security disasters.
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At least one iPhone 17 model launching next year will be equipped with an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip, according to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
All current iPhone models are equipped with a combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip supplied by Broadcom, but Kuo expects Apple to equip “nearly all” of its products with its own in-house Wi-Fi chip “within about three years.”
The chip will replace the Broadcom chip that Apple currently uses for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Apple’s Wi-Fi 7 chip will be built using TSMC’s 7nm process. Apple apparently wants to move “nearly all” of its products to its own Wi-Fi chip within about three years, in order to cut supply costs and rake in more profits.
All four iPhone 16 models already support Wi-Fi 7 with Broadcom’s chip, but with some limited specifications. Kuo said Apple’s in-house Wi-Fi chip will support “the latest Wi-Fi 7 spec,” but he did not provide any further details. The chip will be manufactured with TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process known as N7, he added.
Kuo has aligned with information shared last year by Jeff Pu, another analyst who covers companies within Apple’s supply chain. Pu said the iPhone 17 Pro models would be equipped with an Apple-designed Wi-Fi 7 chip, and he said the in-house chip would expand to the entire iPhone 18 lineup the following year.
Apple is also working on its own 5G chip, which will be separate from the Wi-Fi one and built using a different TSMC process technology. This will also start to be used gradually from next year onwards. The first product to come with Apple’s own 5G modem will be the next iPhone SE. This will however still use a Broadcom Wi-Fi chip. There have been conflicting rumors about whether the Apple-designed 5G and Wi-Fi chips will be separate chips, or one combined chip with 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS capabilities.
Wi-Fi 7 allows for data transmission over the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands simultaneously with a supported router, resulting in faster Wi-Fi speeds, lower latency, and more reliable connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 can provide peak speeds of over 40 Gbps, a 4× increase over Wi-Fi 6E, if a device supports the maximum specifications.
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Apple introduced new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models this week, adding faster and more efficient M4 chips, along with some other updates like Thunderbolt 5 and nano-texture display options for some models. One upgrade we thought we might see was support for the latest Wi-Fi specification, but the new machines did not get a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade.
All of the new M4 Macs continue to offer Wi-Fi 6E, and while it does allow for access to the 6GHz band on supported Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers, it's not the latest and greatest technology.
Apple's Wi-Fi specifications page confirms that the Wi-Fi 7 chips in the iPhone 16 models have a maximum physical layer data rate of 2400Mb/s and a maximum channel bandwidth of 160MHz, which is the same performance as the Wi-Fi 6E chips in the iPhone 15 Pro models and the M3 Mac models with Wi-Fi 6E on 6GHz networks (Apple's chart hasn't been updated for M4, but presumably the Wi-Fi 6E chips have not changed).
Wi-Fi 7 in the iPhone 16 models does up the maximum data rate when connected to 5GHz bands compared to the Wi-Fi 6E chips used in Macs and iPads, but Apple does not support the full 320MHz bandwidth with its Wi-Fi 7 implementation. Wi-Fi 7 offers up to 320MHz bandwidth to accommodate more devices, but Apple has limited bandwidth to 160MHz, so iPhone 16 models don't take full advantage of Wi-Fi 7 despite having a Wi-Fi 7 chip. That limitation has been a disappointment, but the iPhone 16 models do support Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for connecting to multiple bands at the same time for faster data transmission and lower latency on supported networks.
Apple certainly could have opted for a Wi-Fi 7 chip without limitations in the M4 Mac models, especially for the more expensive M4 Pro and M4 Max machines, but that didn't happen. Given that people often keep Macs for several years, it is curious that Apple opted not to offer this bit of future proofing in the Mac line.
Customers who plan on purchasing one of the new M4 Macs should know that these machines continue to offer Wi-Fi 6E features and lack the faster speeds and the latency benefits that come with Wi-Fi 7.
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After debuting on the Fitbit Ace LTE, Google Wallet with tap-to-pay will be available next year for kids using Family Link-managed Android devices. The news comes after Google first added the feature to its kid-focused Fitbit Ace LTE fitness tracker in August.
Google tells us today that supervised kids in Family Link will be able to download the Google Wallet app on their Android phones. This will allow them to make tap-to-pay transactions in stores. They won’t, however, be able to use cards saved in Google Wallet for online payments.
Parents can supervise children’s accounts via the Google Family Link app that lets parents set restrictions for content and screen time, and added the ability to see when kids leave school and arrive home in 2022. Meanwhile, their Family Link app will let them view recent transaction history and remotely remove a card, as well as block passes.
Kids will be able to make tap-to-pay purchases using standard authentication options, including fingerprint, facial recognition, PIN, or passwords. They can also use Google Wallet to store gift cards and event tickets, but they can’t make online purchases or save health or identification cards.
Google already built a lot of this infrastructure out for its Wear OS-powered kids smartwatch earlier this year, noting the “the positive response of tap-to-pay on Fitbit Ace LTE.” The company emphasizes how this “new experience is built with safety in mind.”
Google’s kids’ payments feature will start rolling out to Google Wallet users in the US and several other countries next year.With the move, Google is catching up with Apple, whose Apple Cash Family service already lets children use Apple Pay for purchases in stores. It also lets kids buy things online as well as send and receive money through messages.
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