Amazon’s Fire tablets have always been a bit of an oddball in the Android world. For over a decade, they’ve run Fire OS, Amazon’s heavily modified fork of Android designed to lock you deeper into its ecosystem. That meant the interface was tailored around Amazon services — Prime Video, Kindle, Alexa, Audible — while stripping away most of the Google layer you’d expect from a typical Android tablet.
Now, according to a new report, Amazon is preparing a fundamental shift: its future Fire tablets will run Android proper rather than Fire OS. The first model with this change is expected to launch next year with a surprisingly high price tag of \$400, which would make it the priciest Fire tablet to date — a huge leap from the budget-friendly $50 to $150 range that made the Fire brand popular.
This move has reportedly been in the works for years, sparked by ongoing customer frustration with Fire OS. The complaints were predictable: outdated app support, missing updates, and the hoops users had to jump through just to get the Google ecosystem working. By adopting Android, Amazon is signaling it wants to be taken more seriously in the tablet space, not just as the maker of cheap media slates you hand to kids.
But there’s a catch. Amazon isn’t suddenly becoming a Google partner — the company will use open-source Android (AOSP). That means you’ll get a more familiar Android experience, but without Google apps and services preinstalled. Think of it more like Huawei’s approach post-Google ban: Android under the hood, but no Gmail, YouTube, or Play Store unless you sideload or find third-party solutions. Amazon’s Appstore is almost certainly sticking around as the default storefront, and Alexa will continue to be the assistant front and center.
For Amazon, the upside is flexibility. Android’s deep customization allows the company to keep pushing its own ecosystem — Kindle books, Prime content, Alexa smart home integration — while also removing one of Fire OS’s biggest pain points: compatibility. Apps built for Android will now “just work” far more often, instead of requiring tweaks for Fire OS.
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