Listen to this post
Key Takeaways
- This week, Amazon unveiled two new Bee AI devices in direct competition with startups like Pocket and Plaud.
- Users can wear the $75 Bee Frontier on their wrist or clip it to clothing.
- Meanwhile, the $100 Bee Eclipse attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone.
Amazon is moving deeper into the AI hardware market with new Bee AI devices that listen to your conversations.
Amazon announced plans to buy Bee, a San Francisco startup making AI-powered wristbands, in July 2025. The retail giant and the startup did not disclose the deal’s financial terms. Bee’s original $50 device resembled a Fitbit, but instead of tracking workouts, it used microphones and AI to listen to conversations and turn them into summaries, to-do lists and reminders.
The idea was to give users a personal assistant that could pick up useful details from everyday exchanges without requiring them to take notes.
Earlier this week, Amazon introduced two new Bee listening devices: a wearable and a voice recorder. The two products, called the Frontier and the Eclipse, represent Amazon’s latest move into the AI gadget market and mark the lineup’s first update since Amazon acquired Bee.
Both devices prioritize security, encrypting transcripts and only making them accessible to users.
Users can strap Amazon’s Bee Frontier to their wrist or clip the device to their clothes. The conversation-capturing wearable got a hardware refresh, with a smaller, lighter design. The device records and transcribes conversations, then uses a companion app to deliver recaps and generate to-do lists.
The Frontier comes in three colors: lavender, sage and onyx. It is water-resistant. Amazon says the device can run for up to seven days on a single charge, matching previous models. The price, however, has climbed to about $75, up from $50 for its predecessor.
Amazon upgraded the dual mics on the Bee Frontier with advanced noise-cancelling. In a blog post, Amazon said that the Frontier can “take note of what matters and ignore what doesn’t, even in noisy environments like a crowded restaurant or open office.”
The other device takes on leading startups
Amazon is also taking Bee beyond the wrist with the Eclipse, a new $100 credit-card-sized device that attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone.
The Eclipse uses the same transcription software and companion app as the Frontier, turning conversations into summaries and reminders without requiring users to wear a separate gadget.
The device comes in four colors: silver, midnight, honey and blush. It promises more than 21 days of battery life, compared with the Frontier’s seven-day rating. The Frontier went on sale on Thursday, while Amazon said the Eclipse would arrive “soon” without announcing a specific release date.
Amazon’s Eclipse puts it in direct competition with startups such as Pocket and Plaud, two companies that sell compact AI recorders that attach to smartphones and turn conversations into transcripts. Both startups have already built sizable businesses around the idea of using a dedicated device to take notes. Their gadgets are priced higher than Amazon’s Bee lineup.
Pocket said in August that it had sold more than 200,000 devices and reached a $100 million annualized revenue run rate just eight months after launching. That figure projects its current sales pace over a year. The device costs $129 at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, Plaud said in September that it had surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and attracted more than 2.5 million users across 170 countries. The company is targeting $500 million in global sales for 2026. Its cheapest product costs $159.
Key Takeaways
- This week, Amazon unveiled two new Bee AI devices in direct competition with startups like Pocket and Plaud.
- Users can wear the $75 Bee Frontier on their wrist or clip it to clothing.
- Meanwhile, the $100 Bee Eclipse attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone.
Amazon is moving deeper into the AI hardware market with new Bee AI devices that listen to your conversations.
Amazon announced plans to buy Bee, a San Francisco startup making AI-powered wristbands, in July 2025. The retail giant and the startup did not disclose the deal’s financial terms. Bee’s original $50 device resembled a Fitbit, but instead of tracking workouts, it used microphones and AI to listen to conversations and turn them into summaries, to-do lists and reminders.
The idea was to give users a personal assistant that could pick up useful details from everyday exchanges without requiring them to take notes.