First look: Amazon is discontinuing its Fire tablet brand after 15 years, replacing it with a new line of Alexa tablets with stock Android as well as Google Play and Alexa+ support. Device boss Panos Panay says the company has no plans for a full-fledged PC or laptop for now and is instead focusing on the tablet makeover that brings together Google’s app ecosystem with Amazon’s services and AI tools.
The change addresses a long-standing limitation of Amazon’s tablets: their app selection. Fire tablets ran Fire OS, Amazon’s version of Android, and used the Amazon Appstore. The Alexa models will use mainstream Android and offer native access to Gmail, YouTube and Google Docs, in addition to Amazon’s Kindle, Prime Video, Audible and Music apps.
The revamp comes after Amazon admitted that the Fire range had fallen short of customer expectations. Panay said it “didn’t give customers what they asked for.”
Amazon is also moving the hardware into a higher price range. The Alexa Tablet 8 starts at $229, the Tablet 11 starts at $329, and the Tablet 12 Pro starts at $499. A Pro model with a glare-reducing nanomatte screen starts at $549. The devices will begin shipping this month in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Beyond the move to Android, Amazon is making Alexa+ a central part of the tablet experience. Users can invoke Alexa+ by voice or via an on-screen button without leaving the app they are using. The optional on-screen intelligence feature allows the assistant to use displayed content as context. Amazon describes tasks such as extracting data from a schedule, adding calendar events, and helping users interpret a webpage.
During live conversations, users don’t have to repeat the wake word. When screen sharing is enabled, Alexa can track changes on the display during a session. Amazon says that on-screen intelligence is disabled by default, that users must opt-in for it, and that an indicator will appear when enabled.
The 12 Pro uses an 8-core processor based on a 4nm process and supports up to 16GB of RAM. The starting configuration includes 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Amazon claims it has almost three times the processing power and nine times the graphics performance of its predecessor tablets. These are company figures, not independent benchmark results.
The 12-inch display has a 120Hz refresh rate, a pixel density of 280 pixels per inch, and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Users can resize app windows to work side by side. The tablet also features Wi-Fi 6E and four Dolby Atmos speakers. Amazon claims a video playback time of up to 16 hours.
The optional nanomatte display uses a treatment developed jointly with Corning. Photolithography creates a texture that aligns with the pixels of the screen at the subpixel level. Amazon says this reduces glare while preserving image detail and color accuracy.
The Pro also supports a $149 magnetic keyboard that doesn’t require Bluetooth pairing and a USI 2.0 pen for $89. The pen offers 4,096 pressure levels, tilt detection, magnetic docking and wireless charging. Both accessories were designed specifically for the 12 Pro.
The Alexa Tablet 11 has an 8-core processor, 8GB of RAM, and an 11-inch 2.5K display with a 90Hz refresh rate. Its 16:10 screen is different from the Pro’s 3:2 display. The entry-level Tablet 8 has an 8.7-inch screen, starts with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage and weighs 329 grams. All three tablets have an aluminum housing.
