Amazon's new Alexa tablets ditch Fire OS for Google Play access

Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new lineup of Alexa tablets — the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Alexa Tablet 11, and Alexa Tablet 8 — that run Android and ship with full access to the Google Play Store, letting users download apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Gmail from launch. It’s a break from Amazon’s past approach: its tablets have run Fire OS with Amazon’s own app store until now. An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch the new line uses new hardware and a new operating system, rather than a rebrand of Fire Tablets.

The flagship Alexa Tablet 12 Pro is 6.5 mm thick, with a 12-inch, 280 PPI display, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 3:2 aspect ratio; it comes in a standard version and a glare-resistant Nanomatte option. Amazon says it delivers nearly three times the processing performance and nine times the graphics performance of any tablet it has shipped before, with Dolby Atmos speakers, Wi-Fi 6E, and 16 hours of video playback. It starts at $499.99 ($549.99 for the Nanomatte model), and Amazon also announced a companion Pro Pen and Pro Keyboard meant to turn it into a full workstation.

The Alexa Tablet 11 has an 11-inch, 2.5K display at 276 PPI, a 90Hz refresh rate, dual Dolby Atmos speakers, and 15 hours of playback, starting at $329.99. The Alexa Tablet 8, the smallest at 8.7 inches and 329 grams, is built for one-handed, on-the-go use and starts at $229.99.

All three ship with built-in Alexa+: users can summon it by voice or an on-screen button, and a new On-Screen Intelligence feature lets Alexa answer questions about whatever is currently on the display. The tablets also launch with a new Kindle reading mode that silences notifications, cuts blue light, and can stretch battery life up to 20 hours.

Amazon separately announced new Amazon Kids Tablets, in 8.7-inch and 11-inch sizes, bundled with a case and a year of Amazon Kids+ content, with separate versions for kids ages 3+ and 6+.

The Alexa Tablets and Kids Tablets go on sale October 14, 2026, in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, followed by the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain on October 19; the Kids Tablets also launch in Japan on October 14.

Why it matters

By opening its tablets to the full Google Play Store instead of its walled-off Fire OS store, Amazon is betting that broader app access — paired with Alexa+ built into the hardware — will win back tablet buyers it has struggled to attract against Apple and Samsung.