SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — If Amazon.com introduces a smartphone with 3D technology, it could send shudders through the industry’s biggest players — Apple and Samsung.

On Wednesday, Amazon AMZN, -1.78% notified reporters and customers on its website and via a YouTube video about an event during which it will launch of a “new device” at its Seattle headquarters on June 18. Quickly, speculation began that the company will launch its long-awaited smartphone.

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But this is no ordinary device. In the last two months, reports have surfaced that Amazon is adding 3-D elements to its smartphone. The YouTube video Amazon posted may hint in that direction.

Amazon investors have reason for concern. Amazon is known, or perhaps infamous, on Wall Street for launching hardware products such as the Kindle electronic book reader at cost. So a launch in the cutthroat smartphone market could be a major annoyance for Amazon investors who have tired of the company’s lackadaisical stance toward profits, even if the hardware fuels more purchases on its ever-sprawling empire of goods.

“An Amazon smartphone could be fraught with risk,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Robert W. Baird in a note last month. “Understandably there are concerns about Apple’s AAPL, -3.17% and Google’s GOOG, -2.37% platform dominance in mobile devices, but launching a stand-alone phone could add margin pressures and significant competitive headwinds.”

So investors are probably going to have to prepare for continued spending and possible losses, if Amazon is going to now finally enter the smartphone business, amid its other recent product launches such as the Kindle Fire set top box, grocery delivery and others.

“What [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos will be doing is flipping it from a hardware model to a services model,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. “Bezos is a disruptive element, and making life miserable for everyone.”

Enderle speculated that the 3-D elements Amazon is reportedly going to add to its phone would make it easier to view icons There would be the appearance of more screen space, and social streams would appear simultaneously,

“A 3-D screen will allow you to basically have multiple virtual panels you can see into the device,” he added. “You could get a ton more space to put stuff on, and then rotate the box to sharpen the focus on the one item you want.”

Three-dimensional technology has been attempted in phones, unsuccessfully, when the resolution on smaller screens was much lower. But with higher-resolution screens increasingly inexpensive, this could be the time 3-D takes off in devices. So far in movie theaters and TV, 3-D is considered a gimmick or annoying because of the need for 3-D glasses. The technology Bezos and Co. are reportedly working on does away with that requirement.

Amazon’s goal is to keep its customers buying more products at its doors. Sebastian of Robert W. Baird wrote that Amazon wants to keep “the Apple Fox” out of the “Amazon hen house.” He added: “In order to control the funnel to commerce and content, Amazon needs to maintain a direct link to consumers.”

Bezos must be betting that all devices lead to his massive store, even if he has to give them away. That is probably the business model the company will pursue with smartphones too. Amazon shareholders will have to see whether they have the patience for more losses.