SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 19 Reuters Some workers within Amazons oncestoried hardware division responsible for popular devices like the Kindle reader and Echo voiceassistant say morale within the division has suffered amid staff cutbacks and a pipeline of devices in development that they fear are unlikely to prove hits.

The division, known as Lab126, was a focus for Amazons founder Jeff Bezos, who portrayed it as an engine for future projects, but more recently it has been buffeted by mass layoffs and key executive departures, including leader Dave Limp, a 13year veteran who has announced plans to step down later this year.

Reuters interviewed more than 15 current and former employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to their employment terms, who described a hodgepodge of new devices in development, many of them aimed at encouraging customers to use the once groundbreaking Alexa voice service that now faces a stiff challenge in the age of generative AI and ChatGPT.

The company the worlds biggest online retailer is holding a devices and services launch event on September 20 where it is expected to feature refreshed versions of some existing products like the Fire tablet, Fire TV stick and Kindle Scribe ereader, among other announcements. Reuters was unable to determine Amazons full plans for the announcement.

The news agency was able to identify five different new devices under development. These include a carbon monoxide detector and a household energy…