When Amazon.com Inc. recruited longtime Microsoft Corp. product chief Panos Panay in 2023 to run its devices division, his new colleagues thought the e-commerce giant was preparing to take its consumer gadget line upscale.

Panay pushed back on the idea during an all-hands meeting with thousands of engineers from the Alexa, Echo and Fire TV brands. But his vision for the business didn’t come into clearer focus until this week, when the executive unveiled a suite of new products at an event in New York. The message: Panay aims to build devices that people want to show off in their homes and use — at every price tag. “The idea is putting a lot of detail into every product,” he said in an interview.

Though most of the new devices, including updated smart speakers, e-book readers, home securi

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