Everyone knows that the Fire Phone was a big flop

Aug 27, 2015 08:50 GMT  ·  By

Last year, encouraged by the success its Kindle Fire tablets and eReaders had seen, Amazon took things to the next level and unveiled a phone as well. It was called the Fire Phone and promised to do some amazing things.

The device arrived with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor under the hood, an HD display and Corning Gorilla Glass, but what was special about it was the 3D user interface Amazon called Dynamic Perspective. This translates into the phone being able to track your eye movements so that visual elements move as you move your head.

Still, Amazon made the mistake of overpricing the Fire Phone, which in consequence led to customers skipping over the device altogether. Well, that was in 2014, but now in 2015, one can get the Fire Phone for as little as $130 / €115 from Amazon.

The bundle includes a 1-year subscription to Amazon Prime, which normally costs $99 / €87, so basically, interested customers get the phone at $31 / €27. That’s not bad at all. (l.e: the Fire Phone is currently unavailable on Amazon).

Amazon lays off those “responsible” for the Fire Phone

Evidently, Amazon is trying to clear up its Fire Phone inventory in an attempt to put all the fiasco behind it. What’s more, the Wall Street Journal reports that the retail giant is dead set on reshaping things while its mobile division is concerned.

The Fire Phone was a product of the Amazon Lab126 hardware-development division, which, according to the publication mentioned above, is currently seeing “dozens” of layoffs. This is the first time Lab126 personnel is being diminished en-masse.

Still, Lab126 is still actively working on a bunch of products, including a computer for the kitchen that works via voice commands, a new battery technology that could allow next-gen Kindle eReaders to run for up to 2 years between charges, plus a brand new 3D-friendly Fire tablet (different 3D technology than in the Fire Phone).

Other projects have been scrapped off, like the 14-inch tablet with a stylus pen that might have translated written notes into digital text for shopping lists, and a projector.

Will Amazon hire a fresh batch of engineers and put them to work on a new Fire Phone endeavor? At this point, your guess is as good as ours. We’ll just have to wait and see.