The teardown - Amazon tap portable speaker and assistant [Reviews Consumer Technology]

THE ORIGINAL Amazon Echo speaker/personal assistant has been one of the more successful consumer electronics products of the past year. Having shipped three million according to analyst Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Amazon is looking to extend the range in form factor, portability and price. Two variations have just launched in the US. The Amazon Tap, the subject of this teardown, is a smaller, battery-powered Echo. The Amazon Echo Dot is a hockey-puck-sized and mainspowered version. The Tap costs $150 (£103 pre-VAT) and the Dot is $90. Echo continues to retail at $180. The company says that it will roll out the new products in the UK and the rest of the world during 2016.