Amazon may be launching the new Amazon Firestick 4K this year as it looks to meet massive global demand for its streaming device. There’s no arguing that the Amazon Fire TV has cemented its place as one of the best streaming devices in the world and for good reason.
It’s a well-built product that’s miles ahead of the competition in terms of quality. Amazon has been churning out Fire TV devices quite a lot in recent years with every release better than the previous one. Last year the e-commerce giant released the 2020 Firestick TV and the Firestick Lite.
Both of these devices weren’t only good but they also came at very reasonable prices. It seems like we could yet see another Firestick TV join the fold this year.
Why Do We Need a New Amazon Firestick 4K?
As noted above, the two devices that Amazon released last year (the 2020 Firestick and the Firestick Lite), were relatively cheaper. But this also meant that they didn’t have some advanced features. One thing though that really stood out is the fact that the devices lacked 4K capabilities.
Although they still had a lot of positives to offer customers, for most people, the missing 4K capability was a deal-breaker. Amazon saw this and that’s why they are rectifying the issue by launching the new Amazon Firestick 4K.
However, keep in mind that Amazon has a 4K enabled device. It was released for the first time in 2018. But ever since, we haven’t seen any upgrade. The new 4K device that we anticipate will launch this year will be an upgrade of the 2018 model.
While we know that the 4K capability will be a key selling point here, we also know that Amazon will make several improvements on this year’s 4K device.
What Should We Expect from the New Amazon Firestick 4K?
We can all agree that the new 4K Firestick has been the subject of a lot of hype online over the last few weeks. The excitement is building and as such, a lot of people are curious as to what exactly these devices have to offer.
Before we get to these details, let me make it clear that most of the information available at the moment about the new 4K Firestick is speculation. Nothing has been confirmed yet by Amazon. But having said that, most leaks for new devices tend to be pretty much true.
And since we are relying on info from very reliable sources, you can be sure that whatever we cover below is indeed true or very close to that.
Without further ado, let’s delve deeper into the new Amazon Firestick 4K and see if indeed it’s worth all that hype.
Changes on the Remote
One thing we noticed right away with the new Amazon Firestick 4K is that the remote has changed significantly. It looks less cluttered than the previous one. Besides, a dedicated Amazon Alexa section appears to have been included at the center.
We also noticed that two dedicated buttons for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are also available at the bottom. Despite this, we are not entirely surprised by the new remote, to be honest. Looking at the devices Amazon released last year, it seems the company is moving towards less clutter on remotes.
In essence, the company is hoping to have as fewer buttons there as possible. And with Alexa-enabled remotes, you can see that this will be very much possible in the long term.
Hardware Changes
From the leaks we have seen so far online, it’s really hard to say for sure what kind of hardware changes we expect on the new Amazon Firestick 4K. However, because this is an upgraded version of the 2018 Amazon 4K Firestick, we expect it to have better hardware capabilities.
For example, the 2018 4K Firestick comes with 1.5 GB of RAM. At the very least, we expect Amazon to keep it that way or bump it up to 2GB. We also expect the new 4K Firestick TV to run on the 4th-generation DDR4 RAM.
We may see increased internal storage as well. Right now, the 2018 4K Firestick offers up to 8GB in storage. I would be very surprised if Amazon decided to keep it that way for its new 2020 upgrade. We think that perhaps you may get up to 16 GB with the new Amazon Firestick 4K.
But with Amazon, you never really know. While it’s unlikely the new device will retain the 8GB internal storage, don’t bet your house on Amazon coming through. Sometimes they just don’t.
Pricing
The 4K Firestick TV is the most expensive pick from Amazon’s line of streaming devices. But considering its features, it does offer great value for money. The retail price for the 2018 4K device was $49.99 or thereabout.
We hope that the new version won’t cost higher than that. I get that Amazon will of course upgrade features. But it would be such a huge plus if they keep the price below $50.
Operating System
We are also hoping that the new Amazon Firestick 4K will have at least the Fire OS 7.
This is the latest OS from Amazon and it is already available on the 2018 Firestick and the Firestick Lite. I have to say that it has a pretty nice user interface.
You will also notice that Amazon hasn’t released the Fire OS 7 update for the 2018 Firestick 4K. It could be because they plan to launch the update once they launch the new Firestick 4K.
Final Thoughts
It seems like a long time ago when the 2018 Firestick TV 4K launched. But after two years, we are expecting an upgrade in the coming weeks and it’s quite exciting.
Are you looking forward to the new upgrade? What are your expectations? Let us know in the comments below.
And as always, if you have any questions about your Firestick device or anything else to do with streaming, drop them below and we will get back to you.
