Amazon has purchased smart doorbell maker Ring for over $1 billion

Ring Video Doorbell
Ring Video Doorbell (Image credit: Android Central)

Ring is a fairly big name in the smart home gadget space, and it's most well-known for its doorbells and security lights. One of its biggest competitors is the Google-owned Nest, and according to a report from Reuters, Ring's just been purchased by Amazon for over $1 billion.

Similar to Amazon's acquisitions of Audible, Twitch, and Zappos, Ring will continue to operate as it currently does and retain its own branding while integrating Amazon tie-ins as the company sees fit.

Commenting on this, a Ring spokesperson said:

Ring is committed to our mission to reduce crime in neighborhoods by providing effective yet affordable home security tools to our neighbors that make a positive impact on our homes, our communities, and the world. We'll be able to achieve even more by partnering with an inventive, customer-centric company like Amazon. We look forward to being a part of the Amazon team as we work toward our vision for safer neighborhoods.

Both the Ring Floodlight and the Ring Doorbell Pro have received high praise from Mobile Nation's own Modern Dad, and it's likely Amazon will use this acquisition to create new features for Ring and Echo users.

On the other side of the octagon, Nest is expected to take on Ring with the Nest Hello this March, and now that the company is merged with Google's hardware team, there's a good chance we'll see exciting things come out of that partnership even later in the year.

Things in the smart home space are quickly heating up, and now that we're here, I've got to ask you – Team Amazon/Ring or Team Google/Nest?

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Joe Maring

Joe Maring was a Senior Editor for Android Central between 2017 and 2021. You can reach him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.