Amazon Kills the Fire Tablet, Debuts Three Alexa Tablets With Google Play
The new lineup runs Android with the full Google Play Store and starts at $230. After 15 years, the Fire name is gone.
Amazon is done with the Fire tablet. The company announced Thursday that it is replacing its entire budget tablet line with a new family of Alexa Tablets, three models that run Android with full access to the Google Play Store.
The switch ends a 15-year run. Fire tablets have run Amazon's Fire OS with its own app store since the beginning. The new tablets drop both. Google Play support means apps like YouTube, Gmail, and Google Docs install the way they would on any Android tablet.
The cheapest model, the Alexa Tablet 8, starts at $229.99. It has an 8.7-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Amazon says it plays up to 14 hours of video.
The midsize Alexa Tablet 11 starts at $329.99. It has an 11-inch 2.5K display with a 90Hz refresh rate, 8GB of RAM, and dual Dolby Atmos speakers.
The flagship Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at $499.99. It has a 12-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a MediaTek Dimensity 8400 chip, and up to 16GB of RAM. A $549.99 version has a Nanomatte anti-glare screen made with Corning.
Amazon is also selling a $149.99 Pro Keyboard and an $89.99 Pro Pen for the 12 Pro. Both attach magnetically. The tablet with both accessories comes to $739.97 before tax.
Every model has Alexa+ built in. The AI assistant is free for Prime members and costs $19.99 a month without Prime. Amazon says On-Screen Intelligence, which lets Alexa read what is on the tablet's screen, is off by default. Users have to turn it on.
There is a catch on the two cheaper models. The Tablet 8 and Tablet 11 show lockscreen ads in their base versions. Removing the ads costs an extra $20.
Amazon says it is retiring the Fire brand and will keep supporting the Fire tablets it has already sold. The company has not said how many years of software updates the new tablets will get.
Preorders opened Thursday. The tablets ship October 14 in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. They arrive in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain on October 19.
