Amazon launches first Android tablets, raising prices and incorporating Alexa

Fire OS is a “forked” version ​of Android, with modifications to make it work like a unique operating system. Known as. Alexa Tablets, the line features several different versions with ​starting prices from $230 to $500; all are made with aluminum cases, a switch from Fire tablets’ plastic.

The new tablets ⁠will cost as much as $550, a big bump from Amazon’s more recent top-of-the-line Fire HD 10 tablet which cost upwards of $180, though the company often ​discounted them. The top Alexa tablet, with 128 gigabytes of memory, for $550 compares with an Apple i.

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The product revamp marks a ​new strategy under deviceschief Panos Panayto move upscale and away from the inexpensive gadgets Amazon sold at or near cost to hook customers into using Prime Video, Kindle, music apps and the main e-commerce website.

That focus on affordability came with compromises, like lower screen quality and battery life, compared with rivals Apple and Samsung and others. Alexa+, an ​advanced AI-powered version of the Alexa voice assistant, will feature prominently on the devices to help perform actions or answer questions using generative AI.

Accessing Alexa+ ​on the tablets will require a Prime membership or Alexa+ subscription, Amazon said. Amazon is pushing the pricier devices as worldwide tablet sales are falling, down 12% in the second ‌quarter from ⁠the year before to 33.6 million units,.

The US market, which has been especially hurt by a shortage of memory chips, saw sales plunge 32% in the second quarter year over year, IDC data showed. The Seattle company held just 1.9% of the global tablet market in this year’s second quarter, down from 8% a year earlier,.

Apple is the leader with 34%, followed by Samsung at 17.5%. The tablet prices do not include ​a one-time fee customers have to pay ​to turn off advertising displayed ⁠on the lockscreen, though the highest-priced Alexa Tablet will not have the ads.

It will require a one-time $20 fee to eliminate the ads, up from $15 for Fire OS tablets, a spokesperson said. Such ads help users “discover new content that’s relevant ​to their interests” and the revenue helps underwrite other innovations, the spokesperson said.

Upgrade from Fire OSWith Android, Alexa ​Tablet customers won’t be ⁠limited to the apps offered in the Fire OS app store, disdained by developers who had to make a third version of apps offered in the Google Play and Apple stores. And the built-in Alexa+ voice AI assistant helps to differentiate the tablets from others.

Amazon has spent billions overhauling Alexa to power it with generative ⁠AI and ​make it more capable forconnected homes, shopping and accessing third-party services like Uber and Grubhub. ​The service, free with a Prime membership, is unprofitable.

Prior Fire OS tablets will still work, said the spokesperson, but she did not say whether Amazon will continue to maintain the operating system or ​app store. Earlier this year Amazoncut off supportfor older Kindle models, citing software maintenance costs as a reason.