Amazon’s long-running line of Fire-branded tablets is going to go through some significant changes, according to a new report. The company is allegedly planning to move away from its own Fire OS (which is a fork of Android) and actually use Android proper.
The first Fire tablet to run Android will arrive next year, and will cost $400, which is a much higher price point than what we’re used to seeing Fire tablets go for.
The switch to Android has apparently been a multiyear project for Amazon, and it comes as a consequence of the retailer basically hearing too many complaints from its customers about Fire OS.
Obviously, Amazon is hoping that its tablet sales would jump significantly following the switch to Android. There is still a catch here, however. Amazon will be using the open source Android, so there won’t be any Google apps preinstalled.