Rumor has it that Amazon is planning to ditch Android on its Fire devices
Grab an Amazon Fire TV or an Amazon Fire tablet and it comes with Fire OS, a version of Android that Amazon has extensively customized. However, according to the latest rumor, Fire OS won’t be around for much longer.
From Low-pass (through Android Police), Amazon engineers are working hard on an alternative operating system that does not include Android. The new software will also roll out across Amazon’s various devices.
The operating system has the internal code name Vega and is described in the report as “fairly advanced”. Apparently some Amazon affiliates have already been told about Vega and it has already been tried out on Fire TV streaming sticks.
According to Lowpass, this isn’t exactly a new development either: Amazon is said to have been working on the software since 2017, although efforts to get it ready have “gained steam” recently, suggesting a launch could happen relatively soon . .
Old Android device
The report goes on to say that hundreds of people are busy preparing Vega, and that the operating system is largely web-based. That should make it easy for third-party developers to build compatible apps and add-ons.
One of the problems Amazon has with Fire OS is that it uses the Android Open Source Project, which is far behind the Android we know from phones and tablets: current Fire TVs actually run Android 9, while Google Pixel phones have recently been updated to Android 14.
Over time, Vega is expected to run on all of Amazon’s hardware products, some of which haven’t even been announced yet, including in-car entertainment systems. Whether current devices will get this remains to be seen.
If this does indeed happen, it means Amazon could offer a completely unique software experience, which will no doubt heavily promote services like Amazon Prime Video. As soon as anything is official, we’ll let you know.