Amazon has stopped making devices that plug into other people's televisions.
Amazon moves beyond streaming sticks to manufacture its own 4K smart TVs with integrated far-field Alexa, available exclusively through Amazon.com and Best Buy starting October. New Fire TV Stick 4K Max ($55) offers 40% more processing power, Wi-Fi 6 support, and Energy Star certification, while Fire TV gains TikTok content and enhanced Alexa recommendations.
- Fire TV Omni Series starts at $410 for 43-inch model, ships October 2021
- Fire TV Stick 4K Max priced at $55 with 40% more processing power and Wi-Fi 6
- TikTok content coming to Fire TV in U.S. and Canada; Netflix shuffle exclusive to Fire TV
- Available exclusively at Amazon.com and Best Buy; Toshiba and Pioneer partnerships continue
Amazon launches its first branded smart TVs, the Fire TV Omni Series starting at $410, alongside new streaming devices and Alexa features including TikTok integration and Netflix shuffle voice control.
Amazon has stopped making devices that plug into other people's televisions. On Thursday, the company announced it would begin manufacturing its own smart TVs, marking a decisive shift from years of selling Fire TV streaming sticks and partnering with established TV makers to build sets around its software.
The first Amazon-branded televisions are the Fire TV Omni Series, starting at $410 for a 43-inch model, with larger screens reaching $1,099.99 for the 75-inch version with Dolby Vision support. A more affordable Fire TV 4-Series line begins at $370. Both will ship in October, available exclusively through Amazon.com and Best Buy. The move represents Amazon's most direct entry yet into the hardware business that has long been dominated by Sony, LG, Samsung, and others.
What distinguishes the Omni Series is its integration of far-field Alexa microphones built directly into the television itself. Users can issue voice commands whether the TV is powered on or off, or even while watching content from an HDMI input. Ask Alexa to find a show, and the TV will locate it across streaming services without requiring you to specify which app to open or which input to select. The system also handles volume control, closed captions, brightness adjustment, and input switching through voice alone. The less expensive 4-Series includes an Alexa remote but lacks the always-listening microphone array.
Amazon is not abandoning its existing partnerships. Best Buy currently stocks more than 80 Fire TV models from other manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada. New televisions from Pioneer will begin shipping in late September, while Toshiba is preparing Fire TV sets with four-microphone arrays similar to Amazon's own, expected in spring 2022. Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon's Entertainment Devices and Services division, declined to name the manufacturers building the Amazon-branded sets but emphasized that the company's own televisions would allow for faster feature integration and deeper data collection about what people watch.
Alongside the new hardware, Amazon is expanding Fire TV's software capabilities. TikTok content, already available in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, will soon reach Fire TV users in the U.S. and Canada, complete with an autoplay feature that serves up an endless feed. Netflix's "Play Something" shuffle feature, which randomly selects a title for viewers, will become accessible through voice command on Fire TV this fall—an exclusive arrangement. Amazon is also adding a conversational Alexa feature that lets users ask "What should I watch?" and receive recommendations based on their installed streaming services, launching in beta later this year.
The company also released a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max priced at $55, offering 40% more processing power than its predecessor and becoming Amazon's first streaming stick to support Wi-Fi 6 and Energy Star certification. It includes Live View Picture-in-Picture, allowing users to check security cameras or Ring doorbell feeds without pausing their show. A smart home dashboard coming later this year will let Fire TV users view and control compatible connected devices throughout their homes.
For gaming, Amazon announced Luna Couch, a feature for its Luna subscription service that lets players invite friends to join multiplayer games even if those friends don't have Luna accounts themselves. And for the first time on any smart TV, Zoom video calling will be available natively on the Fire TV Omni Series later this year.
The expansion into television manufacturing represents Amazon's most aggressive move yet to control the entire entertainment experience in the living room. By building its own sets, the company gains direct access to viewing data, the ability to test features before rolling them out to partners, and a clearer path to integrating its broader ecosystem of smart home devices. It's a vertical integration play dressed in the language of consumer choice.
Citas Notables
At Amazon, deep selection is important. By selling its own televisions, Amazon will be able to collect a broader set of viewing data and integrate new features more easily.— Daniel Rausch, VP of Amazon's Entertainment Devices and Services
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Amazon need to make its own televisions? Weren't the Fire TV sticks and partnerships working?
They were working, but there's a ceiling to what you can do when you're software running on someone else's hardware. Amazon wanted the microphones built in, the voice control always listening, the smart home features woven deeper into the experience. You can't do that with a stick plugged into a Samsung TV.
So this is about control?
It's about control and data. When you own the television, you see everything people watch, how long they watch it, what they ask Alexa for. That's valuable information that partnerships don't give you the same access to.
But they're still working with Best Buy and other manufacturers. Why not go all-in on their own brand?
Because the TV market is massive and fragmented. Amazon can't manufacture enough sets to meet demand. And some people will always prefer a Sony or LG. So they're doing both—selling their own sets while expanding partnerships with Toshiba and Pioneer. It's hedging.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max costs $55. The cheapest Omni is $410. That's a big jump.
Right. The stick is for people who already have a TV they like. The Omni is for people buying a new television anyway, or people who want the full integrated experience with always-on Alexa and smart home controls built in. Different customers, different price points.
What about TikTok on Fire TV? That seems like a separate thing.
It is, but it's part of the same strategy—making Fire TV the center of entertainment. Netflix shuffle, TikTok autoplay, Alexa recommendations. Amazon is trying to make the TV the place where you don't have to think about what to watch. You just ask, and it happens.
Will this actually work? Can Amazon compete with LG and Samsung in the TV business?
That's the real question. They're not trying to out-engineer LG. They're trying to out-software them. If the Alexa integration and smart home features feel genuinely useful, people might choose Amazon over a traditional TV maker. But it's a crowded market, and most people don't think about their TV as a smart device yet.