Amazon is set to release its first Android-powered tablet next year, marking a significant shift from its Fire OS platform to address user complaints about its limitations. The new tablet is expected to be priced around $400, nearly double the cost of Amazon’s current high-end model, reflecting a potential increase in features and/or performance.
As part of a project known internally as Kittyhawk, Amazon plans to release a higher-end tablet as soon as next year offering the Android operating system software for the first time, according to six people familiar with the matter. Since the Fire tablet’s introduction in 2011, Amazon has used what is known as a “forked” version of Android with custom modifications that make it work like a unique operating system.
The multiyear project to switch to Android marks a philosophical change for the online retail giant, which has eschewed third-party operating systems and software in favor of its own. As a result, Amazon has offered its own app store requiring developers to make separate versions of their apps for Fire tablets, limiting the store’s variety.
Amazon is the world’s fourth-largest tablet seller, with 8% of the market, just behind Lenovo’s 8.2%, according to second-quarter IDC data. Apple and Samsung were the market leaders with 33.1% and 18.7%, respectively.
MacDailyNews Take: Whatever iPadOS knockoff they use, it cannot even come close to iPadOS 26 (which finally unleashes iPad and its superior chips hardware). If it’s not an iPad, it’s not an iPad.
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