Amazon’s $500 Echo Show 16 Wants to Be the Center of Your Home

Amazon is betting there’s room for another screen in your home, and that you’ll pay $500 for it.

The company announced the Echo Show 16 on Wednesday, a new 16-inch smart display that combines Alexa Plus, Fire TV and a customizable home dashboard into a single device. It starts at $500, with a $570 version featuring an anti-glare screen.

The Echo Show 16 is now available for preorder, with a $100 discount for early buyers. Amazon says the device will ship later this year, but hasn’t announced an exact date.

The new smart display is designed to do a little bit of everything, whether that’s controlling lights, managing your family’s calendar, making video calls or streaming Netflix while you’re cooking dinner.

A bigger screen and an optional anti-glare upgrade

The Echo Show 16 has a full HD display that Amazon says offers 10% more viewing area than the Echo Show 15. It also has a redesigned aluminum frame that’s nearly 40% thinner than its predecessor, which could make it less obtrusive when mounted on a wall. A new 10-speaker system is designed to deliver fuller sound for music, TV shows and video calls.

One of the biggest additions is an optional Nanomatte display, which Amazon says reduces glare by more than 90%. That could make a difference if you’re using the Echo Show in a kitchen with bright overhead lighting or near a window.

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The Echo Show 16 also includes a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera for video calls, with automatic framing to keep people in the shot. Amazon says it more than doubles the range of Visual ID, which can recognize household members and personalize what’s on the screen, from 8 feet to 17 feet.

The Echo Show 16 is also the first in the lineup to offer night vision, letting you see what’s happening at home even in the dark.

Amazon says a dedicated button can disable the microphones and camera. That’s worth noting given previous concerns about changes to Alexa’s privacy settings.

A smart home dashboard that doubles as a TV

Amazon is introducing three new screen styles that change how the Echo Show 16 home screen looks and functions. Smart Home turns the display into an always-on control center for connected devices, including lights, thermostats and speakers. Family Organizer brings together shared calendars, to-do lists, meal plans and recipes. Photos turns the screen into a digital photo frame.

There’s also a customizable favorites bar for quick access to frequently used features.

The Echo Show 16 comes with Fire TV built in, letting you stream content from services including Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTube and Prime Video. The box includes a remote, so you won’t have to rely entirely on voice commands or the touchscreen.

Fire TV is already available on the Echo Show 15 and 21, but the new customizable dashboards give the Echo Show 16 more ways to serve as a central home hub.

Alexa Plus gets a more visual experience

The Echo Show 16 also runs Amazon’s Alexa Plus AI assistant, which can handle more conversational requests and multi-step tasks. Alexa Plus isn’t exclusive to the new display, though. Amazon previously introduced Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 models designed for the upgraded assistant.

Instead of simply displaying a transcript of a conversation, the new interface can generate interactive content, including comparison charts, videos and recommendations, as you speak to Alexa.

Amazon is also introducing Cards, which organize previous Alexa conversations into topics you can revisit. For example, a conversation about planning a weekend trip could produce a Card containing relevant links, reservations and other details.

Certain features require Alexa Plus, which is included with a Prime membership. Without Prime, the full Alexa Plus experience costs $20 a month.

The Echo Show 16 costs $500 with the standard display or $570 with Nanomatte. Both versions are eligible for a $100 preorder discount. It doesn’t include a stand, so you’ll need to mount it on a wall or buy one separately. Amazon offers a $70 basic stand or a $125 swivel-and-tilt version.

For comparison, Amazon’s larger 21-inch Echo Show 21 launched in 2024 at $400. Add the Nanomatte display and swivel-and-tilt stand, and the Echo Show 16 comes to nearly $700 before taxes and the preorder discount. That’s a steep price for a smart display, even one that wants to double as a TV, family organizer and smart home hub.

With more than a decade of experience, Nelson covers Apple and Google and writes about iPhone and Android features, privacy and security settings, and more.

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