Amazon announces new Kindle Fire tablets

6 September, 2012 - Paul Dixon
Kindle Fire 8.9

Amazon has today unveiled a new line of Kindle Fire tablets which look set to compete against Apple’s current iPad, and the much rumoured 7-inch iPad mini, which is widely expected to make its debut in October.

Here’s a quick overview of the new devices:

Kindle Fire

An updated version of the company’s existing 7-inch tablet, the new Kindle Fire boasts a faster 1.2GHz processor, increased RAM, and promises improved battery life over its predecessor. The Kindle Fire is priced at (£129) $159.

Kindle Fire HD

The Kindle Fire HD sports a 1280×800, high definition 7-inch display, a 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor, two WiFi antennas, and a front-facing HD camera. It’s available with 16GB of storage for £159 ($199), or 32GB for £199 ($249).

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″

Sporting a 1920×1200, high definition 8.9-inch display, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ appears to be a direct competitor to the third-generation iPad. It has a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, two WiFi antennas, and a front-facing camera. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ is available with 16GB of storage for $299, or 32GB for $369.

In addition, there’s also a 4G LTE version of the 8.9″ Fire HD, which comes with either 32GB of storage for $499, or 64GB for $599.

Unlike the smaller models, The Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ appears to be US only.

Besides the new Kindle Fires, Amazon also announced a new backlit e-reader today – the Kindle Paperwhite, and the price of its existing entry level Kindle e-reader has been reduced from £79 ($79) to £69 ($69).

About the author

Paul Dixon is the owner of Macsessed. He lives in Lancashire in the UK where he works as a web designer. You can find him on and Twitter.