The Alexa Tablet 8, Alexa Tablet 11, and Alexa Tablet 12 Pro.
Credit: Amazon
With Google’s move from Chromebooks to Googlebooks and now Amazon’s shift from Fire to Alexa tablets, new, multipurpose devices seem high on Silicon Valley’s to-do list.
Amazon announced Thursday that it’s preparing to phase out its Fire-branded tablets and replace them with Android-based Alexa Tablets. Panos Panay, Amazon’s head of consumer electronics, told Bloomberg this week that Fire tablets weren’t “giving customers what they were asking for,” prompting the commerce giant to start anew.
The three new models are the Alexa Tablet 8, starting at $229.99; the Alexa Tablet 11, starting at $329.99; and the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, starting at $499.99. The Pro also comes in a version Amazon calls “Nanomatte,” with a glare-reducing display layer, starting at $549.99. With chunkier price tags than Fire tablets ever had, Amazon’s announcement positions the Alexa tablets as higher-end products, with aluminum designs and larger displays on the 11 and 12 Pro.
All Alexa tablets run Android. But wait—didn’t Fire tablets run an Android-based operating system called Fire OS? They sure did. The big change is that Alexa tablets run a mainstream Android OS with Google Play access, rather than Amazon’s custom Fire OS and app store.
Panay also said Amazon has more hardware announcements planned for the fall, but the company does not plan to release an Amazon-branded laptop.
Amazon will continue selling its remaining Fire tablet inventory but has stopped making new units under the Fire brand. The company says it will provide security updates for four years after its final shipments. Meanwhile, Alexa tablet shipments will begin October 14 in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
