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If you have an outdated or broken Amazon Echo gathering dust at home, there's never been a better time to upgrade to a brand-new model. Amazon is offering up to 55% off its latest line-up of Echo smart speakers, slashing the price of the fifth-generation Echo Dot to £24.99 and full-sized Echo down to £49.99.
But the savings don't end there.
Amazon will supercharge the discount by an extra 25% if you agree to send an existing Amazon Echo or Echo Show device back to the online superstore.
With the 55% discount in the Prime Day saleand the 25% applied to your new Amazon Echo, you'll save a mind-boggling 80% off the RRP. If you max-out the savings available, the Echo Dot plummets from £54.99 to just £11. The fourth-generation Echo, which would cost £109.99 outside of a sale, plunges to £22.
The bonus discount available when you trade-in an existing Echo smart speaker, or other Amazon-designed gadgets is much more generous than the extra 20% off that Amazon offers when you send in a Fire TV Stick.
Sadly, this bonus discount isn't available across all of the Echo line-up.
Echo Pop (now £19.99), the newly-launched Echo Spot (now £49.99), and supersized Echo Show 10 (now £199.99) are all exempt from the extra 25% off when you trade-in your current gadgets.
The Echo Show range offers all of the same functionality as an Amazon Echo, but adds a touchscreen capable of displaying additional information and making video calls via the built-in webcam
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Amazon will accept broken devices as part of its trade-in scheme, although you won't receive the same discount when you send a non-working Amazon Echo back to the company. As you might expect, the exact level of discount (up to a maximum of 25% off) varies based on the model and condition, but you'll be given a rough estimate when you start the process, so you'll have a decent idea of how much extra you'll be able to cut the sale price, so there shouldn't be any unwelcome surprises.
Amazon sells a wide range of Echo smart speakers capable of streaming live radio, songs and playlists from services like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon Music, to name a few. You can also listen to audiobooks and podcasts on these popular smart home gadgets.
Echo speakers can be controlled via the Alexa app on your iPhone or Android, as well as using voice commands to chatty AI assistant, Alexa. A far-field microphone array inside the speaker listens for the wake word "Alexa," and then follows your spoken instructions.
Using its powerful AI brain, Amazon's Bluetooth speakers can manage your calendar, set timers and reminders, read the latest headlines and forecasts, call friends and family, order takeaways, and more.
Echo Pop, pictured here in the Lavender Bloom colour option, launched last year with a stylish new design for the most affordable smart speaker
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It can also double up as a Wi-Fi extender, boosting the signal from an Eero Wi-Fi router to eliminate any blackspots in your coverage at home.
The fifth-generation Echo Dot launched back in 2022, but remains the most up-to-date version of the hardware. The smart speaker arrives with a cylindrical shape designed to improve sound quality. The case uses 95% recycled fabric and 55% recycled plastics and Amazon has pledged to offset any energy used in the lifetime of the smart home gadget with clean electricity — reducing its impact on the planet. This iteration of the Echo Dot introduced a temperature sensor, so it can automatically adjust smart thermostats and other gadgets around the home based on the current temperature.
As the name suggests, this smart home device adds a five-inch touchscreen to display additional information from Alexa. For example, timers will countdown in real-time on the screen, while weather forecasts for the next five days will be shown. You can also use the Echo Show 5 to watch Netflix and Prime Video, or follow along with tutorials on YouTube. The built-in camera can be used for video calls to other Echo devices, or the Alexa app on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets. Everything else that you're able to do with a voice-only Amazon Echo is also possible with the Echo Show line-up too.
The full-sized Amazon Echo sports the same cylindrical design as the diddier Echo Dot. Packed with a three-inch woofer and dual front-firing tweeters, this flagship speaker supports Dolby audio. Amazon has packed its flagship audio-only Echo with all of the smarts needed to manage Zigbee and Matter-compatible devices without a separate hub plugged into your Wi-Fi router. Set-up of these smart home gadgets is managed via the Alexa app on iPhone and Android. It can also double up as a Wi-Fi extender and be paired with a Fire TV device to boost sound performance during movie night.
This upgraded model adds Spatial Audio support for improved listening on supported music streaming services and a larger eight-inch HD touchscreen. Like the pricier Amazon Echo, the Echo Show 8 lands with Zigbee smart hub functionality baked in, so you can pair and control devices compatible with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread without a separate smart home hub. Like the smaller Show 5, there's also a front-facing camera for video calls with other Echo devices and phones and tablets with the Alexa app.
The slew of Amazon Echo deals are a drop in the ocean compared to the thousands of price cuts included in the Prime Day sale.
As always with this annual site-wide sale, you'll need to be a Prime member to be able to access any of these deals. Without Prime membership, you'll be stuck paying the full RRP for items that've been discounted in the sale. You'll also lose out on next-day delivery at no extra cost on thousands of items.
But becoming an Amazon Prime member doesn't have to cost you anything.
That's because the US shopping giant offers a 30-day free trial of its membership scheme. Sign up, then cancel immediately and you'll still be able to enjoy all of the perks of Prime membership for a month.
If you don't cancel, you'll be charged the usual £8.99 per month fee at the end of the free trial period. We've written an in-depth guide on this loyalty scheme to work out "is Amazon Prime worth it in 2024".
