Amazon Kills the Fire Tablet Line, and the Fire HD 10 Is Down to $73
Amazon is discontinuing its Fire tablets after 15 years on sale, from 2011 to 2026. The company has stopped manufacturing any new units under the Fire brand and will simply sell through the remaining inventory until it runs out.
An Amazon spokesperson said Fire tablets remain their own product and are fully supported. The company committed to at least four years of software support, including security and operating system updates, after the final shipments go out.
On October 8, Amazon unveiled three Alexa Tablets that start shipping October 14 in the US, Canada and Mexico. The Tablet 8 has an 8.7-inch screen and starts at $229.99 with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The Tablet 11 starts at $329.99, while the flagship 12 Pro starts at $499 with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM.
The new tablets run standard Android with the Google Play Store and have the Alexa+ assistant built in. The old Fire tablets ran Fire OS, Amazon's heavily customized fork of Android tied to the Amazon Appstore, whose limited app selection drew complaints for years. The switch answers the single most requested change.
To clear stock, the Fire HD 10 (32GB, black) has dropped from $154.99 to $72.99, a $82 saving or 53 percent off, an all-time low. It packs a 10.1-inch 1080p Full HD display at 1920 x 1200, an octa-core chip, 4GB of RAM, 13-hour battery life, and 5MP front and rear cameras with 1080p video. Storage expands via microSD up to 1TB. The model carries more than 34,000 five-star reviews.
For streaming, reading and kids' schoolwork, a $73 full-HD tablet is hard to beat. The trade-off is the closed Fire OS ecosystem and a product line with no future generations. Buyers who live in Google apps or want a longer-lived device should consider paying up for the new Alexa line, which starts at $229.99.
The Fire line once made decent tablets available for under $100. With its exit, that price tier is nearly gone, and Amazon is clearly aiming upmarket at the iPad instead. Once the last Fire HD 10 sells, the Fire name becomes history.
Discussion: At a $73 farewell price, would you grab a discontinued tablet for its sheer value, or pay more for a longer-supported successor? What do you use a tablet for most?