Amazon just killed the Fire brand and built a real Android tablet instead.
Amazon is launching a new tablet lineup called Alexa Tablets, ending the 15-year run of the Fire name. The devices run full Android with Google Play support, not Amazon's old Fire OS fork. They still come loaded with Amazon's own apps, plus quick access to Prime Video and shopping. The headline feature is Alexa Plus, which Amazon is positioning as the center of the whole device rather than a bolted-on voice assistant.
This is a bigger shift than a rebrand. Fire tablets were cheap and app-starved for years because Fire OS locked out the Play Store, limiting them mostly to streaming and basic browsing. Full Android access erases that constraint and puts these tablets up against the iPad and other Android slates on their own terms, not just as discount media players.
Whether people buy a tablet because an AI assistant is baked in, rather than despite it, is the open question Amazon's marketing will not answer for you.