Amazon droht, in den Premium-Tablet-Markt zurückzukehren und sich dabei der höchsten Schwierigkeitsstufe zu stellen.

With the increasing perfection of Android and iOS systems, the living space for third - party ROMs is getting narrower and narrower, and Amazon's Fire OS is no exception to this trend. The decline of Fire OS has an impact on the Amazon tablets that use it. Recently, Reuters reported that Amazon may be developing a high - end tablet named Kittyhawk, whose greatest advantage is supposed to be the use of the Android system.

Nowadays, Amazon's tablet offerings are mainly targeted at the mid - and low - end market segments. For example, the lowest - positioned Fire HD 8 only costs $54.99 and is equipped with the six - core main processor MT8169A developed by MediaTek in 2022. Its performance is roughly equivalent to that of Huawei's Hisilicon Kirin 650. Even the highest - positioned Fire Max 11 only costs $334.99 and is equipped with the MediaTek MT8188J, whose performance is only slightly better than that of the Dimensity 700.

It is noticeable that the market competitiveness of Amazon's tablet products currently has a large gap compared with the products of leading Android manufacturers. This is also the reason why Amazon falls into the "Other" category in the global tablet sales figures for the second quarter of 2025, published by Canalys. In fact, Amazon has also tried to penetrate into the high - end tablet field. In 2013, when tablets were just emerging, Amazon launched the FIRE HDX tablet, which was equipped with the then high - end platform Qualcomm Snapdragon 800.

Unfortunately, at that time, Amazon seemed more interested in Echo smart speakers, so the FIRE HDX was only launched in one generation and then not further developed. Why does Amazon, after showing no interest in high - end tablets for a long time, suddenly want to enter this field again in 2025 when the competition among leading tablet manufacturers is already very fierce?

If Amazon really wants to return to the high - end tablet market, it will be faced with a much more difficult situation than in 2021. Leading manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi have already covered various application areas, and Amazon has little chance of capturing a market share from these mobile phone manufacturers.

Perhaps the best opportunity for Amazon to return to the high - end tablet market would have been in 2020 or 2021. Due to the global pandemic, people had to stay at home, which led to a sharp increase in the demand for remote work and online education. Many consumers bought tablets to meet these needs, and the previously declining market experienced a revival.

In response to this development, leading Android manufacturers once again invested resources in their tablet product lines. At the same time, mobile gaming has undergone great changes during this period. Open - world games like "Genshin Impact" place higher requirements on device performance, which also stimulated the small gaming tablet segment. Data published by Canalys shows that gaming tablets were one of the main drivers for the growth of global tablet sales figures in the second quarter of this year, which increased by 9% compared to the previous year and 5% compared to the first quarter.

If Amazon really enters the high - end tablet market now, it will be faced with a much more difficult situation than in 2021. Leading manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi have already covered various application areas, and Amazon has little chance of capturing a market share from these mobile phone manufacturers.

So what drives Amazon to continue working on high - end tablets? The most likely answer is that Amazon's device department is trying to save itself. In May 2025, the e - commerce giant announced that it would cut about 100 jobs in the device and service department, including in the hardware product lines of Alexa, Echo, and Ring.

It is known that Amazon's top goal currently is artificial intelligence (AI). The investment of $7.5 billion in AI shows the company's determination to stay at the forefront of AI development. The costs for this are borne by the hardware business unit. This department has repeatedly become a victim of CEO Andy Jassy's "cost - priority" strategy, and employees in this department were also affected in each wave of layoffs.

Currently, Amazon's most important products in the device department, the Echo smart speaker and the Kindle e - book reader, are facing great challenges as the market for both products is declining.

To keep its promise to save $3 billion in costs per year, Amazon has shut down experimental projects such as the telemedicine service and the physical delivery program. In addition, it is cutting the hardware business unit to focus on profitable businesses such as Prime Video and AWS. The orientation towards future AI business fields is already an irreversible trend. As part of the "downsizing list", Amazon's device department is in a difficult situation, and to prove its own value, it has to actively look for new opportunities.

The AI business fields are like an endless money pit. Since competitors such as Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Apple are already investing huge amounts in AI, Amazon has no other choice but to make high - level investments as well. As a relatively marginal business, the situation of the device department is getting more and more difficult year by year, and it is unrealistic to expect leniency from the company's management. Currently, the high - end tablet seems to be the life - saver for the device department, as it has recognized the increasing demand for tablets in areas such as education, simple office work, and entertainment and hopes to find new opportunities in it.

But can Amazon really produce good high - end tablets? Given the maturity of the supply chain today, it shouldn't be difficult to develop an acceptable product. The real challenge is to convince consumers to spend at least $400 on a high - end Amazon tablet instead of a Samsung Galaxy Tab or a Google Pixel Tablet, especially since Amazon hasn't produced such a tablet for twelve years.

This article is from the WeChat account "Three - Easy Life" (ID: IT - 3eLife), written by 3e Jun and licensed by 36Kr.