Amazon’s Bee lineup starts at $74.99, and Friend and Limitless push always-on recording pendants into daily wear.
A cluster of AI wearables now competes for space on people’s bodies, and Amazon has entered the category. The company launched the Bee Frontier at $74.99 and the Bee Eclipse at $99.99, both built on the pendant startup Bee acquired in July 2025. The original Bee pendant cost $49.99 and records everything it hears, learning routines to generate reminders and notes.
Bee pairs its hardware with an iOS companion app under a $19 monthly subscription that surfaces daily takeaways and chronological transcripts. Friend sells a $129 pendant that tracks tone and mood and sends proactive messages over Bluetooth. Limitless, formerly Rewind, charges $99 for its pendant and $29 per month for unlimited transcription and summaries.
Operators evaluating these devices should treat always-on audio as a data governance problem, not a feature. Bee ships a mute button, and Limitless asks for consent before it transcribes calls and meetings. Teams that deploy recording hardware need clear retention policies, easy opt-outs for bystanders, and audit trails that show what the device captured and when.
Friend answered criticism of its New York subway ads, which vandals defaced with complaints about surveillance capitalism, by shipping Friend 2.0 with a built-in speaker and a more distinct personality. OpenAI is separately building a compact AI companion device. Watch whether cheaper pendants push rivals toward better consent design or deeper assistant integrations.
What matters
- Amazon launched the $74.99 Bee Frontier and the $99.99 Bee Eclipse after buying Bee in July 2025.
- Always-on pendants now cost under $100, so consent, retention, and mute controls shape product design.
- Friend 2.0 adds a speaker and voice personality as scrutiny of public recording mounts.
Why it matters
Friend 2.0 adds a speaker and voice personality as scrutiny of public recording mounts.
This GenAI News article was prepared in original wording using reporting and materials published by TechCrunch AI. Source reference: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/25/the-hottest-ai-wearables-and-gadgets-you-should-know-about/.
Drafted by the GenAI News review pipeline.