Even though there haven’t been any leaks, like there were around this time
last year, it’s fairly likely there will be a new Amazon Fire TV and/or
Fire TV Stick released within the next few months. If Amazon repeats last
year’s product roadmap, which they often do, new Fire TV devices will be
announced in September and released in October. My theory that new Fire TV
devices will be announced in time for the upcoming release of Prime Video in
India has caused several of you to wonder what can we expect from a new
generation of Amazon’s streaming devices. While there aren’t any leaks to
go off of, here’s a breakdown of potential improvements and new features we
might see in a Fire TV 3 or Fire TV Stick 2.
Performance vs. Value
Before speculating on possible improvements to next generation Fire TV
devices, it’s important to realize that there’s a good chance Amazon may
decide to focus on improving the device’s value instead of simply improving
its performance. It’s common for tech companies to bump up specs like CPU
clock speed, RAM, storage, and memory with each new product generation, but
that hasn’t been Amazon’s approach lately. There’s a chance we’ll see
specs remain unchanged, or even decrease, in order to reduce a new Fire TV’
s price. This is the approach Amazon has taken with their current line of
Fire tablets, and it has proven to be a very successful strategy. Instead of
improving the specs of the old Fire HD 7 tablet for example, the new Fire 7
″ tablet that replaced the Fire HD 7 has inferior specs but costs nearly
one-third the price. The result has been Amazon’s best selling product ever.
This article isn’t a prediction of what improvements and features the next
Fire TV and Fire TV Stick will have in stow. Instead, it’s a look at how
specs and functionality can improve if Amazon does decides to upgrade
individual aspects of the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. In all likelihood,
there will probably be a mixture of specs that get upgraded to improve
performance and specs that remain the same to maintain or improve value.
Hardware
CPU
If the Fire TV remains $99.99 and the Fire TV Stick remains $39.99, you can
probably expect each device’s CPU to receive a spec bump. The Fire TV went
from a quad-core 1.7Ghz CPU to a quad-core 2Ghz CPU when it was updated.
Apart from gaming, the CPU isn’t that important in a streaming device since
most of the heavy lifting is done by a dedicated hardware video decoder (
more on that below), so I wouldn’t expect to see something like an octa-
core CPU in the next Fire TV. A quad-core 2.5Ghz CPU is around what I’d
expect if we see a Fire TV 3 released this year. The Fire TV Stick is where
we might see a more significant CPU upgrade. The current Fire TV Stick has a
dual core 1.2Ghz cpu that is under clocked to 1Ghz. It was the most
powerful streaming stick when it was released, but has since been dethroned
by the new Roku Stick which is about 30% more powerful. If a new Fire TV
Stick 2 is released this year with a focus on performance, which again may
not be the case, I expect it will have around a 1.4Ghz quad-core CPU.
GPU
Even more so than with the CPU, the GPU in the Fire TV is really only
important when it comes to gaming. Since gaming on the Fire TV has been more
of a secondary selling point, I don’t expect Amazon to crank up the GPU
horsepower to try and take on something like the NVIDIA Shield TV, which
pushes gaming as a major selling point. A significant, but conserviative,
bump in GPU specs, similar to the one we saw when comparing the Fire TV 1 to
the Fire TV 2, is most likely what we’ll see in the Fire TV 3. A new Fire
TV Stick however, which has never been marketed as or consider to be big on
gaming, has the potential to move into a new role if Amazon decides to give
it a dedicated GPU, which it currently doesn’t have. About a third of the
games in the Fire TV appstore, which encompuses most of the best games, are
not available on the Fire TV Stick due to it not having a dedicated GPU. A
new Stick with the ability to play top games, like Minecraft or Terraria,
would be a big selling point.
Video Decoder
The capabilities of the dedicated hardware video decoder in the Fire TV and
Fire TV Stick is arguably more important than the CPU and GPU specs. The
decoder allows theses devices to smoothly play high quality video streams
with little effort from the main processor. It, nearly on its own, dictates
what resolution (1080p vs. 4K), framerate (30fps vs. 60fps), and color range
(standard vs. HDR) the device supports. The Fire TV 2 has a video decoder
that added support for the newer h.265/HEVC codec, used for 4K streams, but
there’s room for improvement. It’s only capable of decoding 30fps h.265/
HEVC video, which is sufficient for movies and TV shows, but I expect a Fire
TV 3 to be capable of 60fps 4K h.265/HEVC decoding. Additionally, the Fire
TV 2 decoder can only handle a bit depth of 8-bits per sample. Without going
into too much detail on what that means, the industry is favoring a bit
depth of 10-bits per sample, so I would expect that to come with an improved
decoder. A move from 8 to 10-bits means the device could handle video with
over 1 billion colors, versus the 16 million colors the 8-bit decoder in the
Fire TV 2 can currently handle. This would improve image quality and
provide support for high dynamic range (HDR) video. The current Fire TV
Stick does not have a h.265/HEVC decoder, but its h.264 decoder is more than
sufficient for 1080p video. While I don’t expect a new Fire TV Stick to
support 4K video, which requires a h.265/HEVC decoder, that doesn’t mean a
h.265/HEVC decoder is unlikely. There are still big advantages to h.265/HEVC
video, like lower bandwidth costs for Amazon when serving 1080p video.
RAM
The amount of memory in the next Fire TV and Fire TV Stick is one of the
categories that is likely not to change in order to maintain (or improve)
the device’s value. The Fire TV 2 has 2GB of RAM and, unless the Fire TV 3
plans to dethrone the NVIDIA Shield as the best Android-based gaming box,
2GB is plenty of memory. The Fire TV Stick currently has 1GB of RAM. If the
next generation doesn’t have a dedicated GPU, it will likely retain that
amount of memory, especially since its two biggest competitors, the Roku
Stick and Chromecast, both have only 512MB of RAM, despite both being newer
devices. If the Fire TV Stick 2 does try to expand its gaming footprint with
a dedicated GPU, there’s more of a reason to bump the RAM to 1.5GB or 2GB
because the CPU and GPU must share the memory.
Storage
All Fire TV devices to date have had 8GB of internal storage, of which only
about 5GB is free to use. Increasing the internal storage is an obvious
improvement, but it’s hard to say if it will happen, given Amazon’s focus
on cloud storage. If new devices are released with a version of Fire OS that
is based on Android 6 (more on that below), then I wouldn’t be surprised
if a Fire TV 3 has the same 8GB of internal storage. This is because Android
6 fixes the limitation found in Android 5 and Fire OS 5 that only allows
parts of an app to be moved to external storage. With an Android 6 based
operating system, external storage can be configured to completely replace
the internal storage, making the amount of internal storage nearly
irrelevant for power users. That said, I still expect the Fire TV 3 to come
with at least 16GB of internal storage. Since games are the main app types
that fill up internal storage, and the Fire TV Stick is not pushed as a
gaming device, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Fire TV Stick 2 still has only
8GB of internal storage, in order to keep the price as low as possible.
HDMI
The Fire TV 2 and Fire TV Stick have HDMI 1.4 ports. If the Fire TV 3
supports [email protected]/* */ and HDR, which I expect will happen, it will need to have
a HDMI 2.0 port. Additionally, [email protected]/* */ and HDMI 2.0 means the main GUI can
output at 4K instead of 1080p, assuming the CPU/GPU can handle the rendering
. One of the main reasons why Amazon limits the GUI to 1080p is because the
current 30fps limitation of the Fire TV 2’s 4K output would make interface
animations feel laggy. All of the same applies for the Fire TV Stick,
although I don’t expect it to gain 4K, so it doesn’t need HDMI 2.0. Wider
support for HDMI-CEC, which allows the Fire TV and television to communicate
over the HDMI cable, is also a possibility. While the Fire TV can turn on a
TV via HDMI-CEC, it’d be nice if it could turn it off when the Fire TV
goes to sleep.
WiFi & Ethernet
The Fire TV 2 supports 802.11ac, but the Fire TV Stick is only capable of
802.11n, so the addition of 802.11ac support is a pretty safe bet for a new
Stick. I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Fire TV 3 doesn
’t have an ethernet port. The Fire TV Stick outsells the Fire TV, so it
shows most people are fine with a WiFi only device. Since Amazon seems to
like packing in as much bang for your buck with the flagship Fire TV box, I
can see them cutting out the ethernet port in exchange for a bit more
internal storage or processing power. If ethernet does get cut, it’s likely
an external adapter will still work.
Software
Android
A new version of Fire OS, that is based on Android 6, would be great in the
next round of new Fire TV devices, but I don’t expect it will happen this
year. Hardware manufacturers tend to release products on what is referred to
as a “tick-tock” cycle. A “tick” release usually involves major
hardware changes, while a “tock” release usually involves polishing the
previous generation’s hardware and concentrates primarily on software
improvements. The Fire TV 1 can be considered a “tick” product, since it’
s all new hardware, and the Fire TV 2 can be considered a “tock” products,
since it jumped to Fire OS 5 and came with Alexa. In the same manner, the
original Fire TV Stick is the new hardware “tick” product, and the Fire TV
Stick w/ Voice Remote bundle is the new software “tock” product. This
means both devices would now be on their “tick” cycle, where the focus
will be on new hardware and not new software. Considering how many problems
Fire OS had when it moved to Android 5, I doubt Amazon wants to rush into
another new version of Android so soon. That doesn’t mean there won’t be
new and possibly major GUI changes. I just certainly don’t expect a major
update to the core of Fire OS, like we saw when it went from Fire OS 3 (
based on Android 4.2.2) to Fire OS 5 (based on Android 5.1), when the Fire
TV 2 was released.
GUI
Updates to the Fire TV interface are difficult to guess because there are so
many possibilities. One thing the Fire TV needs, that should be high on
Amazon’s list, is customization. I don’t mean things like wallpapers and
themes, although that would be nice. I mean customizations that let users
get to their videos, apps, and games quicker. Amazon has certainly made
improvements, through additions like favorites, shortcuts, and the new grid
app launcher, but there is so much more that can be done. The ability to
create folders, like can be done with the Apple TV, or the ability to
manually arrange apps, like can be done on Android TV, would be a great
place to start. Even the ability to select a different sort order would go a
long way. I know Amazon employees visit the site, so sound off in the
comments on what GUI changes you’d like to see.
Remote
One sure fire way to differentiate a new generation of Fire TVs and Fire TV
Sticks is to update the remote control. The Fire TV was one of the first
streaming boxes to add a microphone to the remote, but the remote has
remained virtually the same since the Fire TV 1 was released over 2 years
ago. A headphone jack on the remote is practically a no brainer. The Fire TV
Game Controller already has one, so the software support is already present
. Motion capabilities, for gaming or UI interaction, is another possibility.
The current remote and game controller actually already have the hardware
built in. It’s just only being used to wake the peripheral, so that it’s
ready to be used when picked up, even before a button is pressed. A touchpad
, like on the Apple TV remote, could be introduced on a new Fire TV remote.
Speaking of the Apple TV remote, I’d love to see its IR capabilities come
to the Fire TV remote so that you can have basic control of your TV’s power
, source, and volume. We could even see a blacklight added or a remote
locator button, like on the Roku 4, on the next generation Fire TV remote.
There’s definitely plenty of room for innovation and improvements when it
comes to the remote.
One more thing…
Everything mentioned above so far is very plausible. If Amazon simply
chooses a subset of the above improvements, and maintains the same price,
they’ll have a nice upgrade to the current Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.
However, being a “tick” cycle product, I expect there to be something new
that stands out from what we expect a next generation device to have.
I’ve always said that I’d love the Fire TV to have a tiny speaker built-in
with always listening microphones for hands free Alexa capabilities, like
the Echo Dot. While I don’t think that’s likely, a small speaker on the
remote, like the one on a Wiimote, could give access to Alexa even when the
TV is turned off. It would essentially turn the Fire TV remote into an
Amazon Tap. The remote speaker would only activate when the Fire TV detects
that your TV is off, which is something the current generation can already
do. Combined with HDMI-CEC and Alexa’s new ability to start apps and videos
, you can pick up the Fire TV remote with your TV off, ask for a video or
app, and Alexa would respond through the remote speaker while it turns on
your TV, changes inputs, and starts your selection.
Another big new feature could be the addition of a built in TV tuner with
Fire OS integration. There are already indications in the latest software
update of this being worked on. If done right, having free over-the-air
local channels seamlessly integrated alongside apps and on-demand content,
with Alexa control, would certainly be a killer new feature.
Hopefully that gives you an idea of what we can expect in a new Fire TV and/
or Fire TV Stick. I’d love to hear, in the comments below, which features
mentioned above would be most important to you personally, or if there are
features I haven’t mentioned that you’d like to see.
