Amazon phases out Fire tablets in favor of Alexa Tablets

Amazon is phasing out its Fire tablet line and shifting to Alexa Tablets, according to an interview with Bloomberg. Panos Panay, Amazon’s head of consumer electronics, said the Fire line “wasn’t giving customers what they were asking for.”

The new Alexa Tablets run Android rather than Amazon’s custom Fire OS and offer access to the Google Play Store, which was unavailable on Fire tablets. Google apps and services including Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, and Google Drive were available on Fire tablets only through a browser; official Google apps were not offered in the Amazon Appstore.

The change addresses customer requests that, as described in the source article, included access to Google services, higher-quality hardware, and less prominent advertising on the lock screen. Amazon will continue providing security updates for Fire tablets, Panay said, adding, “We won’t leave any customer behind.” The source says hardware refreshes are not expected.

Panay also said Amazon has more hardware announcements planned throughout the fall. He said not to expect an Amazon-branded computer or laptop.