Amazon refreshes Fire TV Stick 4K with Vega OS

Amazon introduced a refreshed Fire TV Stick 4K on September 30, priced at $59.99, with a redesigned remote, a slimmer body and the ability to draw power from a television’s USB port. The device runs Amazon’s Vega OS rather than Android-based Fire TV software, meaning users cannot sideload Android apps on this model. The new stick includes 8GB of storage, a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. It supports 4K video and several HDR formats, but not Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos, features available on the more expensive Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Amazon’s refreshed lineup also includes an HD stick and the Fire TV Cube. Amazon says apps launch 35% faster on the new model and playback begins nearly 20% faster than on a similarly priced competing streaming stick. The company has not fully disclosed the competitors or testing conditions behind those comparisons. A reviewer’s brief hands-on experience did not reveal a noticeable speed improvement, underscoring that Amazon’s figures are company claims rather than independent test results.