TL;DR: Amazon on Oct. 8, 2026 unveiled three Android-based Alexa Tablets with Alexa+ and full Google Play Store access, priced from $229.99 to $549.99 and going on sale Oct. 14 in the U.S.
Amazon has retired the Fire playbook and started over with aluminum, Android and Alexa.
On Oct. 8, 2026, the company introduced an all-new lineup of tablets that combine powerful hardware, the intelligence of Alexa+, and built-in access to favorite apps with the Google Play Store, according to New Amazon Alexa Tablets with Alexa+ built in: details, availability, and pricing. The lineup includes three models — Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Amazon Alexa Tablet 11 and Amazon Alexa Tablet 8 — all with premium aluminum unibody construction, vivid high-resolution displays and powerful processors.
The move is a sharp break from 15 years of Fire tablets. The new devices run Android with full Google Play support rather than Fire OS, Amazon's forked version of Android, according to reporting carried by Amazon launches first Android tablets, raising prices and incorporating Alexa. That change gives buyers access to millions of apps including YouTube, Netflix, Gmail and Google Docs alongside built-in Amazon apps including Prime Video, Kindle, Audible, Amazon Music and Amazon Luna.
Three sizes, three prices
Amazon positioned the three models for different uses, from one-hand reading to workstation-style productivity.
The entry model, Alexa Tablet 8, has an 8.7-inch display and an all-aluminum design that weighs 329 grams, designed to be held in one hand for reading, browsing and streaming, according to Amazon unveils new Alexa tablets with Alexa+ and Google Play Store access. It starts at $229.99 and comes in Graphite, Rosette and Teal.
The midrange Alexa Tablet 11 is an 11-inch device with a 2.5K display at 276 pixels per inch, 90Hz smooth scrolling and a 16:10 aspect ratio, designed for streaming, gaming, reading and browsing. It features 15 hours of video playback and dual Dolby Atmos speakers, starts at $329.99, and comes in Graphite, Amethyst and Matcha.
The flagship Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at $499.99, while a Nanomatte model starts at $549.99. The 12 Pro comes in Graphite and measures 6.5 mm thick, engineered for balance, with a 12-inch, 280 PPI display, 120Hz refresh rate and 3:2 aspect ratio for more usable screen space.
That pricing is a step up from Amazon's recent top Fire HD 10, which cost upward of $180 before frequent discounts, and puts the top $550 configuration near Apple's $450 iPad and Samsung's $550 Galaxy tablet, according to the Reuters reporting.
What changes under the hood
Amazon said the 12 Pro is the most advanced tablet it has ever built, powered by a 4nm 8-core chip with up to 16GB of RAM that delivers nearly three times faster processing and nine times faster graphics than any tablet it has shipped before.
Independent hands-on reporting identified the silicon as MediaTek parts: the Dimensity 8400 in the 12 Pro and the Dimensity 8189 in the smaller tablets, according to Amazon Alexa Tablet 12 Pro, Alexa Tablet 11, Alexa Tablet 8: Specs, Features, Price | WIRED. WIRED listed the 12 Pro with 8 or 16 GB of RAM and 128 GB or 256 GB of storage, the Tablet 11 with 8 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of storage, and the Tablet 8 with 4 or 8 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of storage.
Battery and charging also scale with size. WIRED reported 9,000 mAh in the 12 Pro for 16 hours of video playback and 20 hours in Kindle mode with 27-watt charging, 6,500 mAh in the Tablet 11 for 15 hours of video and 20 hours in Kindle mode with 18-watt charging, and 4,600 mAh in the Tablet 8 for 14 hours of video and 19 hours in Kindle mode with 18-watt charging.
Connectivity and durability details include Wi-Fi 6E on the 12 Pro and Wi-Fi 6 on the smaller models, fingerprint sensors on the 12 Pro and Tablet 11, IP52 ratings across the line, quad Dolby Atmos speakers on the Pro and dual speakers on the smaller tablets, and USB 3.2 Gen 1 with DisplayPort on the Pro versus USB 2.0 on the others.
Cameras follow the same tiering: 8-MP front and 13-MP rear on the 12 Pro, 8-MP front and 8-MP rear on the Tablet 11, and 5-MP front and 8-MP rear on the Tablet 8.
Nanomatte display headlines the Pro
The screen is the centerpiece of the Pro strategy.
Amazon partnered with Corning on a photolithography process that etches a precise, pixel-aligned texture into the glass at the sub-pixel level, unlike conventional matte screens that sandblast the surface, preserving detail and color accuracy while dramatically reducing glare. That Nanomatte option is unique to the 12 Pro and is described as readable indoors and outdoors, at any angle, in any light.
WIRED reported peak brightness of 500 nits for the Pro models, with resolutions of 2800 x 1840 in 3:2, plus 2560 x 1600 for the 11-inch model and 1340 x 800 for the 8.7-inch model at 400 nits.
Amazon's devices chief framed the display as the product's non-negotiable feature. Panos Panay, Amazon's SVP in charge of hardware and Alexa, said the team spent two and a half years on the tablet and started from zero without reusing prior components, according to Amazon's Alexa Tablets are powerful, impressive, and designed to take on iPad | The Verge. Panay described the goal as making the perfect screen, with a 3:2 aspect ratio suited to running two Android apps side by side.
The screen also adapts to content. If users launch the Kindle app, blue lights turn off for a warmer reading presentation, while comics render extra glossy, The Verge reported.
Pen and keyboard turn Pro into a workstation
Designed exclusively for the 12 Pro, the Pro Pen and Pro Keyboard aim to extend the tablet from entertainment into productivity.
The Pro Pen is a USI 2.0 active pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt detection, magnetic docking and wireless charging. Amazon said the Nanomatte display creates natural friction so writing feels like pen on paper, for marking up PDFs, sketching ideas or taking handwritten notes.
The Pro Keyboard magnetically attaches to the 12 Pro with no Bluetooth pairing required. Users can open, resize and work in multiple windows side by side — email, Slack and AI coding apps simultaneously — and switch between work and personal profiles.
WIRED priced the accessories at $90 for the pen and $150 for the keyboard, with the pen docking magnetically to the top of the slate for charging and pairing and the keyboard connecting via pogo pins.
Alexa+ moves to the center
Alexa+ is built into the core of every tablet, from a personalized home screen to hands-free sessions, according to Amazon's announcement.
Users can say "Alexa" or tap the "Ask Alexa" button to get answers, control smart-home devices and get contextual help without leaving the current app. With On-Screen Intelligence, users browsing a list of trails can ask which hike is best for them, TechCrunch reported.
Panay told The Verge that Google Play was a necessity, but ranked hardware first and Android second in importance, with Alexa Plus intended to be as pervasive as rival assistants on other tablets. Amazon said accessing Alexa+ on the tablets will require a Prime membership or Alexa+ subscription.
The company has spent billions overhauling Alexa with generative AI for connected homes, shopping and third-party services such as Uber and Grubhub, with the service free with Prime membership, Reuters reported.
Kindle mode and reading sanctuary
For reading, opening a book in the Kindle app transforms the device into a distraction-free sanctuary: notifications go silent, blue light is reduced and battery stretches up to 20 hours.
Amazon offers three display themes — subtle warmth with natural color, softened paper tone and pure grayscale — and says annotations with the Pro Pen sync across Kindle apps on pen-supported devices and Kindle Scribe. The Nanomatte display adds razor-sharp text and paper-like feel in any light.
The tablets launch with a new Kindle reading experience where notifications are silenced, blue light is reduced and battery can last up to 20 hours, TechCrunch noted.
Sale dates, software support and market context
All three Alexa Tablets and the related Kids Tablets will go on sale Oct. 14, 2026, in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with launch in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain on Oct. 19, while Kids Tablets will also be available in Japan starting Oct. 14.
Preorders opened at announcement, with shipping beginning Oct. 14, WIRED reported. The new tablets will launch with Android 16 and receive Android 17 early in 2027, with at least four years of software updates promised. Fire tablets will stop shipping in the next month or two and will be supported for four years from the last ship date.
The launch arrives as global tablet sales fell 12% in the second quarter to 33.6 million units, with the U.S. down 32% amid a memory-chip shortage, according to IDC data cited by Reuters. Amazon held 1.9% of the global tablet market in the quarter, down from 8% a year earlier, behind Apple at 34% and Samsung at 17.5%.
Amazon developed the tablets under the code name Kittyhawk to move away from Fire OS after complaints from consumers and developers about the limited app store, Reuters reported. Prior Fire OS tablets will still work, though Amazon did not say whether it will continue to maintain that operating system or app store.