Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new lineup of Alexa Tablets — three aluminum models running standard Android with full Google Play access and its generative AI assistant Alexa+ built in. It is the company's biggest tablet shakeup in more than a decade, and its most direct challenge yet to Apple's iPad.
The flagship Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts at $499.99 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, topping out at 16GB of RAM on higher configurations. A $549.99 version adds Amazon's "Nanomatte" anti-glare display, developed with Corning. The 12 Pro carries a MediaTek Dimensity 8400 chip, a 12-inch 2.8K display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a 3:2 aspect ratio, a 6.5mm-thick aluminum body, Wi-Fi 6E, and quad Dolby Atmos speakers.
The Alexa Tablet 11 starts at $329.99 with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, featuring an 11-inch 2.5K display at 90Hz. The smaller Alexa Tablet 8 starts at $229.99 with an 8.7-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Amazon also introduced a $149.99 magnetic Pro Keyboard with a trackpad and an $89.99 Pro Pen for the 12 Pro — a base Nanomatte model with both accessories comes to nearly $790.
The switch to standard Android ends one of the longest-standing complaints about Amazon tablets: the Fire OS fork and its limited Amazon Appstore. Google Play brings YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, and the rest of the Android catalog to Amazon hardware for the first time. A Kindle reading mode transforms the tablets when a book opens — notifications go silent, blue light drops, and Amazon quotes up to 20 hours of reading on the 11-inch and Pro models.
Amazon claims the 12 Pro is the fastest tablet it has ever built, with nearly three times the processing and nine times the graphics performance of any prior model, and up to 16 hours of video playback.
Alexa+, Amazon's generative AI assistant, is baked into all three models. A feature called On-Screen Intelligence can read what's on the display and act on it — for example, pulling dates from a game schedule into a calendar and flagging conflicts. Amazon says the screen-reading features are off by default and require opting in, with a visual indicator whenever Alexa can see the screen. Tablet-level Alexa+ access is included with the device; full access across compatible Alexa devices still requires a Prime membership or a separate Alexa+ subscription.
The move marks a clear break from the strategy Jeff Bezos laid out in 2012: "We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices." Cheap Fire tablets were a conduit for books, videos, and music. Now, with global tablet share down to 1.9% from 8% a year earlier, according to IDC, Amazon is going upmarket instead. Standard Android removes the app-store penalty that would have made premium prices indefensible, while Alexa+ subscriptions, Prime-linked access, and lock-screen ads — removable on cheaper models with a one-time $20 fee — supply the recurring revenue the old model chased through content sales.
For buyers, the pricing is pointed. The $329.99 Alexa Tablet 11 lands more than $120 below the $449 entry-level iPad. The $499.99 12 Pro undercuts the $749 11-inch iPad Air by $250 while offering a larger display and a 120Hz refresh rate — Apple reserves comparable specs for the $1,199 iPad Pro with its M5 chip and tandem OLED display. The 12 Pro's snap-on keyboard-and-pen setup also borrows the template Microsoft's Surface Pro established, putting it in direct contention with Samsung's Android tablets and the Surface line. Existing Fire tablet owners were told their devices keep working, with at least four years of support after the last Fire tablet Amazon sells.
The three tablets are available for pre-order now, shipping October 14 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and October 19 in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Amazon also announced Kids editions in 8.7-inch and 11-inch sizes starting at $229.99 and $329.99, bundled with a kid-proof case and a year of Amazon Kids+. The new lineup will be sold at Best Buy and Target alongside Amazon's own store.