The company explains this as a reflection of technological reality. Now that many phones have face recognition and fingerprint readers, Amazon wants to be sure those features work well. Ads that hijack your lock screen can sometimes preclude that. The company also touts the ability to personalize your screen as a motivating factor, although many would have argued that has been important from the outset.

Unfortunately, there's a gotcha involved -- Amazon is raising the price of every Prime Exclusive phone by $20. They should still represent discounts over the regular price, but they won't necessarily be the sweet deals you're used to. With that said, this could be a worthwhile sacrifice if you're tired of receiving sales pitches every time you text a friend. For the most part, you're now getting a garden variety smartphone that just happens to cost less than usual.