Amazon intros cheaper Echo Dot, priced at $49.99

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a second-generation Echo Dot priced at just $49.99.

The original Dot launched earlier this year for $89.99 as a way to augment existing Echo installations or add voice control to external speakers. It's been out of stock in recent months, potentially as a way for Amazon to make room for today's release.

The new Echo Dot comes with a more powerful, totally revamped speech processor that Amazon says will improve far-field voice recognition. It also now has the same seven-microphone array as the Amazon Echo to make it better at picking up trigger words and canceling out background noise.

For users with multiple Echo devices within hearing distance, Amazon's new Echo Spatial Perception (ESP) technology calculates voice clarity to instantly determine which Echo is the best one to respond to the request. This feature will be a free update for all Alexa-powered devices, including Amazon Echo and the first generation Echo Dot, in the coming weeks.

"With the same high-quality array of seven microphones found in Echo, the all-new Echo Dot can hear you from across the room, even when it's noisy or music is playing," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in a press release.

Amazon is packaging the Echo Dot in a new way, too. You can now buy it in six-packs or twelve-packs, in addition to buying individual units. The six-pack sells for the price of five, while with the bigger box offers 12 for the price of 10. It also comes in two color options: gloss black and gloss white.

Overall, the new Dot release is another step in Amazon's quest to spread its Alexa AI voice assistant through households everywhere, which, starting today, includes those in the UK and Germany.

First look at Echo Dot: Add Alexa anywhere