Amazon has retired the Fire name it has used for its tablets for the last 15 years and is launching a new lineup called Alexa Tablets, devices that the company says bear almost no resemblance to any tablet it has ever shipped before.

The most consequential change sits in the software. The new Alexa Tablets run full Android — Google Play-supported, with access to the full app ecosystem — rather than the heavily forked, Amazon-curated Fire OS that limited previous devices to Amazon's own Appstore. Amazon still preloads plenty of its own apps and builds in quick routes to Prime Video content and shopping, according to The Verge's report, but the walled-garden approach that defined the Fire line is gone.

The strategic purpose is twofold. Amazon says the devices are designed to bring Alexa Plus, its upgraded assistant, to the center of the user's whole computing life — and to be, in the company's framing, straight-up excellent tablets.

What does the Android shift change commercially?

For 15 years, Fire tablets functioned primarily as low-cost portals into Amazon's retail and media ecosystem. By adopting Google Play, Amazon removes the single biggest complaint about its hardware: app incompatibility. That positions the Alexa Tablets against mainstream Android slates and, by Amazon's evident ambition, against the iPad.

The pivot also ties the hardware to Alexa Plus, the assistant Amazon has been rolling out across its smart-home lineup. A tablet running full Android with Alexa Plus deeply integrated becomes a general-purpose computing surface rather than a shopping peripheral — a meaningful repositioning for a company whose tablets have historically competed on price alone.

How far does the 'iPad rival' framing go?

The Verge's headline claim — that Alexa Tablets are "coming for the iPad" — signals Amazon's intent, but the report does not yet specify pricing, full specifications, or availability dates for the lineup. Those details will determine whether the devices compete at the premium end Apple dominates or continue to undercut it on price while closing the software gap.

What is confirmed: the brand change, the full Google Play-supported Android software base, the preloaded Amazon apps and Prime Video integrations, and the dual mission of centering Alexa Plus in users' computing lives while delivering competitive tablet hardware.

With full Android on board and the Fire brand retired, Amazon has removed the main structural barrier between its tablets and the broader market; whether Alexa Plus can differentiate the lineup against Apple and Samsung now rests on execution and pricing.