Amazon has unveiled a new TV streaming device: the Amazon Fire TV Cube (3rd Generation). It was announced as part of the September 2022 Amazon launch event, though disappointingly for Amazon it was leaked hours before the event kicked off.
The previous iteration of the Fire TV cube really impressed us. The most recent version, the Amazon Fire TV Cube (2nd Generation) earned four and a half stars in our review, and is one of the best streaming devices we’ve tested. It offers 4K HDR playback and supports Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Atmos to help you get the most out of your favorite shows and movies.
This new iteration takes a lot of what we loved, and adds some improvements to connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E support and a new Ethernet port, which should help reduce buffering times for 4K streaming content.
Interestingly, the new Fire TV Cube will also get a second HDMI port, but for input rather than output. That means you can hook up one of the best gaming consoles out there (like a PS5 or Xbox Series X), and have voice control over more gadgets in your home theatre setup.
Once we’ve spent some time with the new streamer ourselves we’ll get a better idea of how much of an improvement it is, but based on its specs and features the new Amazon Fire TV Cube (3rd Generation) looks like a decent upgrade.
It does come with a price hike, though. The new device is currently available to preorder, and will ship from October 25 for $139.99 / £139.99 (around AU$215) which is $20 / £30 more expensive than the previous Fire TV Cube was at launch. And given that the older device is frequently on sale, it’s going to be a tempting proposition if you don’t need the new features.
We’ll hopefully see Amazon’s older streaming devices get a big discount during the upcoming Amazon Prime Day 2 sale. This precursor to Amazon’s Black Friday 2022 deals will give Prime Members some exclusive early access to discounts across a range of products, and we expect Amazon’s new product announcements will likely mean a drop in the price of older models.
You can also check out the best Fire stick deals available right now if you want to snag a bargain on one of Amazon’s streaming devices.