Amazon Echo Show 15 review: a bright screen with HD streaming doesn't make up for laggy performance, inconsistent personalized content, and too few widgets
so much for that new Amazon AZ2 processor) https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The Echo Show 15 is Amazon's biggest, wall-mountable display yet, arriving after a string of smaller Shows whose reviews kept flagging the same software limits: the Echo Show 8 (2021) was dinged for voice-first software and bugs, and the Echo Show 10 for photo and video options heavily reliant on Amazon services.
The pitch this time is the new AZ2 processor plus HD streaming and a widget-based home screen — but The Verge's verdict ('so much for that new Amazon AZ2 processor') says the silicon didn't buy responsiveness, and the same lag complaint resurfaces two years later in Amazon's own $180 Echo Hub, which pairs fast widgets with another laggy touchscreen.
First-order effects
- Buyers who mount the Show 15 as a family dashboard get a bright HD screen for streaming but a laggy interface and too few widgets to earn the wall space.
- The AZ2 chip fails to deliver the performance step-up Amazon built the launch around, leaving personalization inconsistent out of the box.
Second-order effects
- Amazon's own product roadmap absorbs the critique: the later Echo Hub leans hard into widgets and Zigbee/Thread/Matter support, effectively conceding that widget scarcity was the gap while still not fixing touchscreen lag.
- With content and photos tied to Amazon services (the pattern since the Show 10), a weak first-party experience funnels owners deeper into Prime and Alexa subscriptions rather than standing on its own — consistent with Amazon later making Alexa+ free on Fire TV to widen that funnel.
Third-order effects
- Across seven years of reviews — from the 2017 original's low-resolution screen through the 2024 Hub — the complaints recur (lag, thin third-party content, Amazon-service dependence), suggesting smart-display hardware has outrun Amazon's software investment and the category stays niche until that cadence changes.
- If feature access keeps moving behind subscriptions (as the Echo Hub review notes), Amazon's displays complete the shift from standalone gadgets to cheap endpoints for paid services.
The trend: Seven years of Echo Show reviews trace one arc — bigger, brighter screens and new chips, while lag, sparse widgets, and Amazon-service dependence persist — keeping smart displays a hardware-forward category Amazon has yet to make software-complete.