At the recent Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, the appliance company unveiled its new smart washer that comes with a built-in version of Amazon’s ubiquitous voice-activated virtual assistant, capable of checking the weather, playing music and setting spin cycles.
The Alexa feature will be available in June on the Top Load 900 Series washer, which will list with a suggested retail price of $1,299.
“GE Profile is all about taking the everyday tasks people think can only be done one way and challenging that norm by creating smarter solutions,” said Todd Getz, executive brand director for GE and GE Profile. “Laundry was a natural place for GE Profile to expand and, as a result, we’re giving today’s busy consumer a better way to clean. Our new laundry product portfolio delivers a personalized laundry experience with simple voice through Alexa and AI capabilities designed to make cleaning more intuitive.”
Other smart features on the new washer include Smarter Wash Technology, which senses the amount of dirt and grime in the wash water and adjusts the cycle accordingly, thereby avoiding over- and under-washing. It also offers SmartDispense Technology, which controls the amount of detergent used based on load size, and Tangle Control, which adapts the wash action to minimize tangled loads.
GE Profile also unveiled the Front Load 950 Series at the show. The new washer is not Alexa-equipped, but it does have other innovative features that allow owners to “customize” each wash with AI-powered wash and dry technology. The washer is the only machine with an “UltraFresh Vent,” which uses adaptive intelligence to learn customer usage tendencies and auto-select wash options based on previous loads. The Front Load 950 will be available in April for a suggested retail price of $1,549.
Like other GE smart appliances, the washers are equipped with WiFi connectivity and GE Profile Connect +, which allow users to manage operations through the SmartHQ app and access software updates with new features.
