Amazon's new Echo Studio speaker is also a home surveillance camera

The most recent Echo Studio speaker was released just last year, but Amazon’s already back at it with a refreshed version. Among a bunch of Echo-related launches today, Amazon announced the Echo Studio with Home Camera, a tweak to the existing model that adds, well, a camera.

The new Echo Studio with Home Camera shares all the same specs with the 2025 Echo Studio — same 3.5″ woofer, same four mics, same AZ3 Pro processor. The camera is the sole difference, giving Alexa Plus a view into your space and letting you remotely view the area around your speaker.

In a blog post, Amazon explains that you can use the new Echo Studio’s camera to ask the AI-powered Alexa Plus visual questions and check in on your space remotely through the Alexa app. You’ll also eventually be able to pair the new speaker with a compatible Fire TV device for video calls on your TV.

The Echo Studio with Home Camera has a 13-megapixel camera embedded in its front side. Combining a relatively high-end media speaker and a connected home surveillance camera into a single device doesn’t seem like the most sensible solution — you’ll probably want the Echo Studio situated where it sounds best, which might not make for an ideal view of the room.

Amazon doesn’t make a strong case for using the camera to interact with Alexa Plus, either, citing contrived use cases like holding a board game box up to the camera and asking the speaker to explain the game’s rules, or showing the camera a box of cereal to have Alexa help you shop for other flavors you might like.

The new camera-equipped Echo Studio is available now for $249.99, a $30 premium over the standard Echo Studio. Amazon says it’ll continue to sell the version without a camera, as well.