In summary
- Amazon switching from forked Android to regular Android
- Only open source Android, so still no Play Store
- Could accompany a new, more premium Fire tablet in 2026
Amazon is reportedly switching over to a more traditional version of Android for future Fire tablets, but it’s not quite the good news we were hoping for.
Ever since the first Amazon Kindle Fire launched in 2011, through to the likes of the Amazon Fire HD 8 (2024), the retailer’s tablets have run on a forked version of Android.
This means that Google’s mobile operating system runs only at the very core of the experience, and is barely recognisable. There’s no access to the Google Play Store or any of the other benefits of modern Android.
Now a new report from Reuters claims that Amazon is shifting its position, though it’s not quite the move to ‘proper’ Android that we’ve been calling for.
Simon Chandler/Foundry
Android on Fire
The established news outlet has posted a report, citing six people familiar with the subject, claiming that Amazon will ditch its homegrown Fire OS in favour of a more generic form of the Android OS.
According to the report, Amazon is working on a new higher-end tablet, codenamed Kittyhawk, which is pencilled in for a 2026 launch. This new premium Fire tablet will run on a version of Android.
However, it seems this will be the open source version of Google’s operating system, which means we still won’t have access to the company’s superior app store without some tinkering.
Which begs the question: why bother changing at all?
Simon Chandler/Foundry
Why switch to Android?
It seems Amazon’s simplistic approach to software has held sales back in recent times. Each Fire device is essentially a glorified window onto Amazon.com and its associated services.
High-end Android tablets and (particularly) Apple’s iPad have grown increasingly more advanced and flexible over the past decade, to the point where they can operate as ultra-portable laptops, given a keyboard case. Amazon’s Fire devices simply haven’t kept up.
Amazon is currently the fourth largest tablet maker in the world, with its tendency to sell cheap tablets at close to manufacturing cost proving popular.
However, its 8% market share still falls well behind Apple’s 33.1% and even Samsung’s 18.7%. There’s evidently a limit to the company’s cheap and cheerful approach.
It seems that this new more premium model still won’t mix it with the top iPad and Galaxy Tab models, with a rumoured price of $400. That’s still roughly double the cost of the current Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet, however.