Amazon to unveil 3D smartphone on June 18?

Amazon is teasing an event in Seattle in two weeks, where it will likely unveil two new smartphones

Looks like that 3D Amazon smartphone we’ve all been hearing about will make its splashy debut in less than two weeks. That’s based on a video Amazon released Wednesday evening to announce its big press event on June 18. In the video, a bunch of people are looking down at something off-screen while swiveling their heads like idiots and saying things like, “wow! That’s amazing! How does it do that?”

That’s because the Amazon smartphone is believed to have no less than six cameras. Five front-facing cameras give the smartphone unique head-tracking capabilities in relation to the display, allowing the software to modify the visuals for a 3D effect, sans glasses. Interestingly, this will reportedly apply to apps as well. For example, when using the phone’s maps app, tilting the phone will alter the visuals of the map and give the user different perspectives.

AND it will apparently apply to mobile shopping on Amazon.com. By tilting the phone, users will supposedly be able to see 3D images of the items they’re viewing.

The phone will reportedly be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and will come with 2GB of RAM. Like the Kindle Fire family, the smartphone will run on a forked Android system. Interestingly, even with all the 3D effects, the phone will come with relatively low pixel density—just 720p HD resolution, compared to the 1080p resolution found on other smartphones.

Several reports have it that Amazon is actually gearing up to debut two smartphones, with only the higher-end phone coming with 3D capability. The lower-end phone, which will reportedly ship later than the higher-end version, will not have 3D effects.

The Wall Street Journal reported back in April that Amazon would be debuting its smartphone in June and shipping it in September. The smartphone has reportedly been in the works for several years now.

Rumors began bubbling in 2012 of an Amazon smartphone, with analyst Mark Mahaney guestimating that the phone would cost somewhere between $150 and $170 to build, and that Amazon would sell it for around that price point.  “For a normal brand like HTC, they need to price the product at US$243 to make 30% gross margin. If Amazon is actually willing to lose some money on the device, the price gap could be even bigger,” Mahaney wrote in a research note at the time.

One of the phone's key selling points will reportedly be a wireless plan called "Prime Data," which may imitate AT&T's "Sponsored Data," which allows companies to pay for traffic to certain apps so that the data usage doesn't count toward a user's data cap.

The event will be held in Seattle and will be open to the public, so anyone can sign up now to attend. 

Check out the video below: