Amazon may be laying off thousands of employees, but it’s still selling a ton of stuff — including streaming devices and connected TVs.
The company said sales of Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs have now surpassed 200 million units to date. Amazon, which doles out such stats selectively, previously announced a milestone of 150 million Fire TV devices sold in January 2022.
Alongside the new sales figure, the ecommerce giant is announcing an expansion to the Amazon-built TV lineup to include three new sizes of the Fire TV Omni QLED Series lineup as well as its lowest-priced HDTV yet, the entry-level Fire TV 2-Series, which starts at $200 for the 32-inch model. In addition, the company said it is launching Amazon-built TVs in three new countries: the U.K., Germany and Mexico. Fire TV devices are available to purchase in more than 85 countries.
Amazon said televisions are the fastest-growing segment of the Fire TV business, although it declined to provide any kind of sales breakdown.
“With over 200 million streaming players and smart TVs sold globally, our relentless focus on making TVs actually smart is resonating with customers around the world,” Daniel Rausch, VP of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services, said in a statement.
The new Fire TV 2-Series comes in 32- and 40-inch sizes, designed to be second or third TVs at more affordable price points for places like bedrooms or kitchens. They support HDR10, HLG (hybrid log gamma) and Dolby Digital Audio and include the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote.
The Fire TV Omni QLED Series will now be available in three new sizes — 43-, 50- and 55-inch screens — in addition to the 65- and 75-inch versions. The Omni QLED HDTVs support both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive and include built-in far-field technology, letting customers control the TVs hands-free with Alexa voice commands. The new models start at $449.99 for the 43-inch model, available starting May 11 from Amazon and BestBuy.
The Omni QLED smart TVs feature the Fire TV Ambient Experience, which is adding hundreds of free “gallery-quality” images to its collection of more than 1,700 images, according to Amazon. In addition to artwork from the National Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, the Ambient Experience will include pieces from the National Galleries of Scotland, National Museum of Wales, Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne and other institutions.
Amazon’s Omni QLED TVs use presence sensors to detect when a person enters the room to switch to the Ambient Experience, which can display at-a-glance information like time, weather, calendars and reminders; let users control smart devices; stream audio from services like Amazon Music and Spotify; and perform other tasks.
