Amazon Raises Hardware Prices and Shifts Fire TV to Vega OS

Amazon.com Inc. increased prices across several first-party hardware lines, including Echo smart speakers, Kindle e-readers, Fire TV devices, and eero mesh networking systems. The company attributed the hikes to rising memory and storage component costs fueled by high demand for AI compute. Specific changes include the base Echo Dot rising from $49.99 to $79.99 and the eero Pro 7 increasing from $699.99 to $799.99, though Ring products were not affected. This pricing shift follows similar trends seen at other major technology firms including Apple, Microsoft, and Dell.

In a separate strategic shift, the company is transitioning its Fire TV Stick lineup to Vega OS, a Linux-based operating system. Unlike the Android-based Fire OS, Vega OS prohibits third-party app sideloading for security reasons. Amazon confirmed that all future Fire Sticks will utilize Vega OS, meaning the upcoming Fire OS 16 update will be exclusive to smart TVs and unavailable for the Stick hardware.