Amazon could debut an Alexa-based speaker with a touchscreen next year

Would Alexa fall by the wayside if you have a touchscreen to use instead?

Amazon may be adding to its Echo family very soon. A report from Bloomberg suggests the online retailer is working on a new Alexa-based speaker device with a seven-inch touchscreen, which would make it the first Alexa device with a screen. Currently Amazon's $180 Echo, $130 Tap, and $50 Dot are cylindrical devices, some with speakers and some without, that all contain the company's digital assistant.

According to the report, the new device will have a touchscreen that can be tilted upward so it's more easily visible when sitting on a counter or table. The screen will make it more convenient for users to access information like weather reports, calendar events, and news. All of that information can currently be accessed by voice-commanding Alexa to read it out, but the screen would give that information a visual component. It's also reported that the new device will have even better speakers than the current Echo, which would likely make it a better music playback device.

In addition to using Alexa to control the new device, users will be able to interact with the screen almost like a tablet. Bloomberg reports the device will run "an optimized version of Fire OS," which is the operating system used in Amazon's tablets. Amazon is also testing a feature that would let users "pin" items to the device's screen, similar to how you could use a magnet to place something on a refrigerator door. This feature sounds similar to the messaging features on Triby, one of the first third-party devices to incorporate Alexa. That device uses a small, e-ink display to show messages sent between family members as well as date and weather information.

The report suggests that Amazon could release this new Alexa-enabled device in early 2017. This is undoubtably a way to keep ahead of the competition: Google just released its Home device with its Assistant built in, and there are reports that Apple is working on an Echo-like device powered by Siri. Amazon's Echo has carved out its own corner of the home thanks to the fact that using Alexa voice controls is very easy when you're doing a million things around the house. Its native features are useful, although Amazon could stand to improve its Alexa mobile app since that is the only real interface that Echo, Tap, and Dot have. That could change now with reports of this new device, but it's uncertain what users would like to use more—the physical touchscreen or the voice-controlled Alexa—and how well those two methods will coexist in one device.