Amazon chops the price of its Fire HD 8 tablet
Amazon refreshes its line of bargain tablets with a $10 price cut on its 8-inch model and a modest specs upgrade on its entry-level 7-inch model.
Amazon 's Fire tablets are all about value. And that's why the company continues to court bargain hunters with a price cut to the Fire HD 8 and some modest improvements to its entry-level $50 (£50) Fire 7.
Featuring a 1,280x800 (189 ppi) high-definition display, the HD 8's price drops from $90 to $80 (£80) for the 16 GB version and from $120 to $100 (£100) for the 32 GB version.
The 2017 version of the Fire HD 8 is effectively identical to its predecessor, except that its MicroSD expansion slot now accommodates cards up to 256 GB (that's up from 200 GB).
The new Fire 7 tablet gets a slightly slimmer design, an extra hour of battery life, better screen contrast and additional color options compared to the previous 7-inch Fire tablet.
Kevin Keith, Amazon's general manager for Fire Tablets, said that Amazon had seen "double-digit growth" in its tablet sales in 2016.
Keith added that the company had also seen double-digit growth for its Fire Kids Edition tablet in 2016 and with that in mind, Amazon was launching a Fire HD 8 Kids Edition for $130 (£130). That's a 32 GB model that comes with a protective case, a two-year replacement guarantee should the device get damaged and one year of Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited content subscription service.
(The video of the Fire HD 8 embedded above is from September 2016, when the product was originally released.)
In other Fire news, Amazon announced that Fire tablet owners in the UK would soon be getting a software update that will add Alexa voice-assistant support to their tablets. US customers got the Alexa update in October 2016. That update will be available to owners of the 2016 Fire HD 8, as well as 2015's entry-level Fire and Fire HD 10 and 8.
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