Sarah Tew/CNET
The economy may be struggling, with consumer confidence at its lowest point in years, but that hasn’t stopped the tech industry from gearing up for the holiday shopping season with a flurry of new product launches.
In August, Samsung showed off its foldable phones Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4. Earlier this month, Apple announced its iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra. Chipmaker Nvidia has shown off a new series of graphics cards, the $1,599 RTX 4090 and the $899 RTX 4080. Google and Microsoft are also expected to hold events on October 6 and 12, respectively.
On Wednesday, Amazon will hold its big product event for the year, during which we usually get updates on popular devices like the Echo Dot, which normally starts at $50 but regularly sells for as little as $19 . There’s also Amazon’s Ring home security subsidiary.
But Amazon is also known for throwing wacky ideas at the wall to see what sticks, like adding Alexa smart to a microwave or analog clock. Last year, the company introduced the Amazon Glow for kids and the Halo View fitness tracker. It also showed off the Ring Alarm Pro home security system and a flying Always Home Cam drone to keep an eye on your home when you’re away. We’ve also taken a look at Astro, Amazon’s ambitious robot assistant, which is still in limited sales and testing.
Amazon has a lot planned for the coming months. In addition to this hardware and services event, the company will hold its second Prime Day, known as the Prime Early Access Sale, next month. Part of the goal of this event is to draw attention to this great shopping day. This rumored sale is in addition to Amazon’s regular Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals ahead of the holidays. Amazon has also expanded its Prime video service with live events such as NFL Thursday Night Football games.
when
Amazon’s event is scheduled to start on Wednesday September 28 at 9am PT / noon ET / 5pm BST / September 29 at 2am AEST. (Here’s a handy time zone converter so you can find out when the event will be in your area.)
where
Amazon’s event will be invite-only for the press and will not be broadcast publicly like other companies’ events. But we’ll cover it all here at CNET with a live blog, as well as news, analysis, and reviews you can only get from us. So make sure to follow along.