Amazon has launched a brand new Fire TV Stick 4K today – and it’s replacing two Firesticks at once, including the last mid-priced stick that lets you sideload apps.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, the Android-based stick that was simply called the Fire TV Stick 4K until last December, is being discontinued. Once the remaining stock is sold, it’s gone.
Somewhat surprisingly, so is the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Amazon’s first stick to run its own Vega operating system, which launched just a year ago.
The new 4K stick runs Vega too, and like every new Firestick since last year, it won’t let you install a single app from outside Amazon’s own store.
That leaves the 4K Max as the only Android-based Fire TV stick still in Amazon’s range – and at full price, it costs £99.99 (though it’s currently discounted).
The new stick costs £69.99, with an introductory price of £32.99 until October 13. That’s just £2 less than the 4K Plus costs in Amazon’s current Fire TV sale, for as long as the stock lasts.
Here’s what the new stick brings, what it leaves out, and which one I’d actually buy at this point in time.
The New Fire TV Stick 4K
The new Fire TV Stick 4K is Amazon’s mid-range streaming stick, sitting between the entry-level HD and the flagship 4K Max. It streams in 4K at up to 60fps with HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG, and comes with WiFi 6, 8GB of storage and a quad-core 1.7GHz processor.
Like the Fire TV Stick HD that launched in April, it’s slimmer than the older sticks and can be powered straight from your TV’s USB port using the included USB-C cable, so there’s no need for a plug socket.
It also comes with Amazon’s all-new Fire TV Remote (more on that below), plus Alexa+ and the new Fire TV interface out of the box.
In the UK, Alexa+ is still in Early Access, which is free for now. Amazon says that once Early Access ends, Alexa+ will be included with Prime, or cost £19.99 a month without it.
Amazon’s big pitch is speed. It says the new stick gets you to your content “nearly 20-40% faster” than a similarly priced 4K stick from “another leading brand”, which it doesn’t name (though if I had to guess, it probably rhymes with Count Dooku). Apps launch over 35% faster, it says, and content starts playing nearly 20% faster.
It also claims the stick played content faster than the built-in apps on three 4K smart TVs it tested.
We’ll see how that holds up in real use. The processor is listed at the same 1.7GHz as the Select and the HD, and Amazon hasn’t said how much RAM the new stick has – the Select had just 1GB.
Compared to the Select, it’s a clear step up in the details that bugged me when I reviewed the Select: WiFi 6 instead of WiFi 5, USB-C instead of the old Micro-USB port, and the option to run it off the TV’s own USB port.
But compared to the 4K Plus, it’s a step down. There’s no Dolby Vision support, and Amazon’s own comparison chart lists Dolby Atmos for the 4K Plus and 4K Max, but only “Dolby-encoded audio (HDMI pass-through)” for the new stick.
And yes, the name is going to confuse people. Until December, “Fire TV Stick 4K” was the name of the Android stick – the one Amazon renamed the 4K Plus. That one has Dolby Vision and Atmos. The new Fire TV Stick 4K has neither, and runs a completely different operating system.
As for the price, £69.99 puts it between the Select (£64.99) and the 4K Plus (£79.99), following Amazon’s big Fire TV price rise in September. In the US, the same stick costs $59.99.
Three Sticks, And Only One Runs Android
Here’s how Amazon describes its new line-up:
- Fire TV Stick HD – “For everyday streaming”, the entry-level stick.
- Fire TV Stick 4K – the new “core product”, with “the best balance of speed and value”.
- Fire TV Stick 4K Max – “For gamers and home theater fans”, with more storage, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and more.
The Fire TV Cube stays on sale above them. And then comes the key line: “Other existing models will also continue to be available while supplies last.”
Amazon doesn’t name the 4K Plus or the Select anywhere in its announcement. It doesn’t need to – they’re simply not part of the new line-up.
For the Select, that’s a quick exit. For the 4K Plus, it’s the end of a long run. The stick first launched in late 2023 as the Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen), and it’s been the one I’ve recommended for most people’s main TV: 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos, WiFi 6, 2GB of RAM, and the full Android app library – more than 30,000 apps – with sideloading on top.
Its replacement runs Vega, Amazon’s own operating system, which is built directly on Linux rather than Android. It looks almost exactly the same, but every app has to be rebuilt for it, and it doesn’t allow sideloading at all.
If sideloading is new to you, it simply means installing an app from outside Amazon’s official App Store.
Plenty of people did it for perfectly legitimate reasons: apps that aren’t available in the UK store, alternative media players, niche streaming services and handy utilities.
It also became the engine of the “dodgy Firestick” – sticks loaded with illegal IPTV apps and sold as “fully loaded”.
Amazon had already started blocking known piracy apps across Fire TV devices, and Vega shuts the door completely – even though new research last week found only around a quarter of illegal streamers use devices and paid illegal subscriptions, while more than half watch through social media.
Amazon says it’s added more than 2,000 apps to Vega since the Select launched with around 900, including Spotify, Xbox, VLC and several VPNs – the UK listing for the new stick says Proton VPN and ExpressVPN are both available now (joining NordVPN and IPVanish which arrived last year).
That’s real progress, but it’s still a long way short of what the Android sticks can run.
None of this is a surprise. In April, Amazon’s developer site confirmed that every new Fire TV stick will run Vega.
When I asked Amazon’s Fire TV boss in June why a reader should choose the closed stick with fewer apps, I didn’t get a clear answer – and concluded that within a few years, the choice would be between a Vega stick and no Fire TV stick at all.
Today’s announcement moves that a big step closer. The 4K Max is still standing, but if Amazon’s developer site is right, any future Max will run Vega too.
The Select: Gone In A Year
It’s worth pausing on the Select, because this is a short life for a Firestick.
Amazon unveiled the Fire TV Stick 4K Select on September 30, 2025, as its first-ever Vega device. It had a rough start: around 900 apps at launch, no VPN apps until late November, and a price that tumbled from £49.99 to £19.99 within weeks.
It did get better, as the app library grew and VPNs arrived. But the new Fire TV Stick 4K is essentially the Select done properly: faster WiFi, USB-C power and a better remote, for £5 more at full price.
If you already own a Select, Amazon hasn’t announced any change to its support. If you’re thinking of buying one, it’s still £21.99 in the current sale – an £11 saving over the new stick’s introductory price.
The New Fire TV Remote
The new 4K stick also comes with Amazon’s redesigned Fire TV Remote, which is built to be used without looking down.
It has a flat top and a curved, weighted bottom, so you can tell which way round you’re holding it. The home button gets its own metal surface, and other buttons are indented or shaped differently so you can find them by touch.
There’s also a customisable star button, which Amazon says was previously only available on its more premium remote.
You can set it to open your favourite app, or to toggle settings such as subtitles or Screen Magnifier. As before, there are TV power, volume and mute buttons for your TV, soundbar or receiver.
If you want one for an existing device, it’s available to pre-order now for £13.99, shipping in late October. Amazon says it works with all Fire TV streaming players launched from 2019 onwards, and with all Amazon Ember TVs.
Amazon also says a Fire TV Remote Plus is coming early next year, with an aluminium body, backlit buttons and a built-in “Alexa, find my remote” feature.
It hasn’t given a UK price yet, but the Remote Plus will replace the Alexa Voice Remote Pro – worth knowing if you were eyeing the Pro in the current sale, where it’s £24.99.
Should You Buy The New Fire TV Stick 4K?
At £32.99, the new stick is a reasonable price for what it is. The problem is what’s sitting next to it.
Here’s how the new stick compares to the rest of the range, using the prices in Amazon’s current sale. (If you’re on a phone, you can scroll the table left and right.)
| Device | Now | RRP | Operating system | Sideloading | Dolby Vision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire TV Stick HD | £19.99 | £59.99 | Vega | No | No |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Select | £21.99 | £64.99 | Vega | No | No |
| Fire TV Stick 4K (new) | £32.99 | £69.99 | Vega | No | No |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Plus | £34.99 | £79.99 | Fire OS (Android) | Yes | Yes |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Max | £46.99 | £99.99 | Fire OS (Android) | Yes | Yes |
For £2 more than the new stick, the 4K Plus gives you Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, 2GB of RAM, the full Android app library and sideloading. It’s not the lowest price the Plus has ever been (it was £24.99 at Prime Day in June), but with Amazon now selling off the remaining stock, there’s no guarantee it’ll still be around for Black Friday.
So for a main TV, I’d still pick the 4K Plus while you can get it. If you want the best Android stick, the 4K Max is £46.99, and it’s staying in the line-up.
The new Fire TV Stick 4K makes more sense if you only use the big services and like the look of the new remote and USB power. And if it’s for a spare bedroom and you just want the basics, the Select at £21.99 still does the job for less.
Yesterday, I said I wouldn’t wait for this new stick, partly because I didn’t expect it to launch with a discount. It has. But I’d still give the same advice, for a different reason: the stick most worth grabbing in this sale is still the one Amazon is quietly phasing out.
Amazon’s sale prices and the new stick’s £32.99 introductory price all run until October 13, or while stock lasts. After that, the new Fire TV Stick 4K goes up to its full £69.99.
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