Amazon announces 5.5-inch Echo Show 5 that's shipping in July for $89.99, launches new Alexa commands to delete what you just said or everything you said today
Compact Design, Rich Sound, and Built-In Camera Shutter—Just $89.99 Adam Clark Estes / Gizmodo : Amazon Attempts to Improve Alexa Privacy, Hilariously Fails Jay Greene / Washington Post : Amazon adds delete commands for Alexa Katie Conner / CNET : How to control your Fire TV with Amazon Echo Amrita Khalid / Engadget : Google Assistant can now control GE's smart microwaves Joseph Green / Mashable : Pre-order the new Echo Show 5 with Alexa for under £80 John Myers / Los Angeles Times : ‘Alexa, erase my conversations.’ California lawmakers push smart speaker privacy rules Eric Hal Schwartz / Voicebot : Amazon Alexa Unveils Command to Delete Voice Recordings Tushar Mehta / XDA Developers : Amazon announces the more affordable Echo Show 5 smart display for $90/₹8,999 Ravie Lakshmanan / The Next Web : PSA: You can now delete your voice recordings with an Alexa command Mary Hanbury / Business Insider : Alexa can now delete your recorded voice commands, but Amazon hasn't made it easy Lauren Goode / Wired : Amazon Echo Show 5 and Alexa Privacy Hub: Price, Details, Release Date Justin Duino / Android Authority : Google needs to copy Alexa's ability to delete voice recordings Edward C. Baig / USA Today : Amazon's Alexa can delete your voice recordings - if you ask Ryne Hager / Android Police : GE adds Google Assistant to its $144 Smart Countertop Microwave Brian Heater / TechCrunch : Amazon adds ‘Alexa, delete what I said today’ command Matt Day / The Seattle Times : Amazon to let Alexa users delete voice commands in privacy push PYMNTS.com : Alexa Users Can Now Delete Voice Recordings Brian Fagioli / BetaNews : Amazon Echo Show 5 is a privacy-focused Alexa device Chris Nuttall / Financial Times : Huawei sees hit to 1,200 US suppliers Techdirt : Daily Deal: The Complete Raspberry Pi & Alexa A-Z Bundle Michael Brown / TechHive : Amazon's Echo Show 5 could kneecap the Google Nest Hub Margi Murphy / Telegraph : ‘Alexa, delete everything I said’: Amazon Echo lets users clear voice recordings Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet : Amazon brings more privacy, smart home controls to new Echo Show 5 Tweets: Nilay Patel / @reckless : I prefer Alexa but switched to Google Assistant entirely because of Google Photos on the Home Hub, and I don't understand why Amazon won't just add support to these. https://www.theverge.com/... Dan Seifert / @dcseifert : the new Echo Show 5 is basically a rectangular Echo Spot that's $40 cheaper (but the Spot isn't being discontinued for some reason?) https://www.theverge.com/... @baxiabhishek : “Alexa! Please clarify how many Echo devices there really are!” https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The Echo Show line has traveled fast on price: Amazon's original 2017 Echo Show launched at $229.99 with a 7-inch screen, and two years later the Show 5 lands at $89.99 with a smaller 5.5-inch panel and a physical camera shutter. The same announcement adds voice commands to delete what you just said or everything Alexa recorded today.
The privacy timing is not accidental. Gizmodo's take that Amazon 'attempts to improve Alexa privacy, hilariously fails' and California lawmakers' push for smart speaker rules frame the delete commands as a defensive move ahead of regulation. By 2021, Amazon had built this into a product line, adding a security mode and a $95 Kids Edition in its Echo Show 8 and 5 refresh.
First-order effects
- Bedside-table buyers get a sub-$90 smart display with an alarm clock form factor, cutting the entry price for a screen-equipped Echo by more than half versus the 2017 model.
- Alexa users gain immediate voice-level control over their recording history — delete the last utterance or the whole day — without opening the app.
Second-order effects
- Google's assistant ecosystem, already extending into kitchens through GE's smart microwave integration, faces pressure to match voice-native deletion as the comparison point for privacy becomes what you can say, not what you can configure.
- California's proposed smart speaker rules give Amazon's delete commands a regulatory tailwind: if lawmakers codify retention and erasure rights, every assistant vendor must ship equivalent controls.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, voice-commanded data erasure shifts from differentiator to table stakes across consumer assistants, and regulators increasingly write rules against the controls vendors already ship rather than dictating new ones.
- Smart-display economics keep sliding toward scale-and-services: at $89.99 the hardware is a distribution vehicle for Alexa engagement, which makes recording policy — how long audio is kept and who can erase it — a core competitive surface rather than a compliance footnote.
The trend: Consumer voice assistants are racing to make privacy controls conversational and cheap hardware ubiquitous, with state legislation converting voluntary delete commands into expected defaults.