All of your favorite smart speakers and e-readers just got (way) pricier all of a sudden
Amazon is making a lot of its popular Echo, Kindle, and Fire TV products more expensive, although oddly enough, that's not the case for any Fire tablets... yet.
If you thought that was the e-commerce giant's way of coping with the tech industry-wide rising component costs without increasing product prices, I'm afraid you'll have to think again. That's because a slew of Echo, Kindle, and Fire-branded gadgets have just followed the example of more Apple iPads, Samsung Galaxies, Motorolas, and Lenovos than I can count on my fingers and toes with official US price hikes ranging from $5 to $100 (!!!).
Here's what's happened to your Echo device of choice
Echo Dot (5th Gen) - from $49.99 to $79.99;
Echo Dot Kids - from $59.99 to $89.99;
Echo Dot Max (2025) - from $99.99 to $119.99;
Echo Spot (2024) - from $79.99 to $109.99;
Echo Studio (2025) - unchanged;
Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) - from $89.99 to $99.99;
Echo Show 5 Kids - from $99.99 to $109.99;
Echo Show 8 (2025) - from $179.99 to $199.99;
Echo Show 11 (2025) - from $219.99 to $249.99;
Echo Show 15 - from $299.99 to $349.99;
Echo Show 21 - from $399.99 to $499.99.
There's no point in beating it around the bush - these price increases are a lot worse than anyone could have predicted, and at least as far as I'm concerned, they don't make a great deal of sense.
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The Echo Dot is still relatively affordable, but it's no longer a must-buy for many people. | Image by Amazon
Is Amazon honestly expecting us to believe that memory and storage make up such a large part of the bill of materials of an ultra-affordable product like the Echo Dot to justify a retail price hike of 60 percent?!?! At the same time, the same components are apparently not important for the high-end Echo Studio smart speaker at all while commanding a $100 jump for the gargantuan Echo Show 21 smart display.
Will you still buy an Amazon-made device anytime soon?
Granted, Apple's HomePod mini and "regular" HomePod have recently leapt from $99 and $299, respectively, to $129 and $349 as well, but Google has somehow managed to keep its new Home Speaker unchanged at $99.99... for the time being, and it's now pretty hard to recommend the diminutive Echo Dot or the costlier Echo Dot Max as a smarter purchase.
Things aren't looking great for the Kindle roster either
Kindle (11th Generation) - from $109.99 to $149.99;
Kindle Kids (2024) - from $129.99 to $179.99;
Kindle Paperwhite (12th Generation) - from $159.99 to $199.99;
Kindle Paperwhite Kids - from $179.99 to $229.99;
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition - from $199.99 to $249.99;
Kindle Colorsoft - from $249.99 to $289.99;
Kindle Colorsoft Kids - from $269.99 to $299.99;
Kindle Scribe - unchanged;
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft - unchanged.
If I were an optimist, I'd probably focus on the positives here first and emphasize that Amazon's two most expensive e-book readers haven't gotten even more expensive.
The Kindle Paperwhite is $40 costlier now than just last week. | Image by Amazon
But let's be honest, far more prospective buyers care about the latest "standard" Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite than the $679.99 (!) Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, so I expect quite a few of you to be (justifiably) upset with the $40 price hikes of the two (still relatively) affordable e-readers.
Amazon, of course, doesn't have a lot of high-profile competition in this market, although the $179.99 Kobo Clara Colour is starting to sound like a very tempting Kindle Paperwhite or even Kindle Colorsoft alternative, especially at a $20 discount available right now on the company's official US website.
Fire TV Stick HD (2nd Gen) - from $34.99 to $39.99;
Fire TV Stick 4K Select - from $39.99 to $49.99;
Fire TV Stick 4K Plus - from $49.99 to $69.99;
Fire TV Stick 4K Max - from $59.99 to $84.99;
Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen) - from $139.99 to $199.99.
More price increases to note for products that I didn't realize used that much storage and memory, that is, including a massive $60 hike for a previously unrivaled Fire TV Cube set-top box and a small but still significant $5 bump for the ultra-affordable new Fire TV Stick HD released earlier this year.
Yes, the Fire TV Stick 4K still delivers excellent value for your money, but the bang for buck factor is slightly weaker than before. | Image by Amazon
Personally, I continue to recommend the Fire TV Stick HD and Fire TV Stick 4K Plus for the vast majority of streaming device buyers, while the $99.99 Google TV Streamer (4K) looks like a better and better Fire TV Cube alternative.
What about Fire tablets?
Curiously enough, the Amazon-made products that I'd have expected to get price hikes before all those Echoes, Kindles, and Fire TVs have yet to budge. Even better, the Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 are currently available at decent discounts of $40 and $35, respectively, in their most affordable configurations.
Amazon Fire HD 8 (2024)
$40 off (31%)
Equipped with a reasonably high-quality 8-inch HD screen, 4GB RAM, a hexa-core processor, a battery large enough to deliver up to 13 hours of endurance between charges, and 64GB internal storage space, the latest Fire HD 8 edition is one of the best budget tablets around, especially at a cool $40 discount.
Even though it's a little older than the newest Fire HD 8 model, this 10-inch mid-ranger is obviously larger but also sharper and more powerful with a 10.1-inch screen sporting a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and an octa-core processor on deck. The $154.99 list price is not only unchanged... for the time being, but if you hurry, you can mark it down by 35 bucks without any special requirements.
The Fire HD 8 (2024) comes with 4GB RAM and 64 gigs of internal storage space in a variant regularly priced at $129.99 that I was certain Amazon planned to make more expensive, but for some reason, that hasn't happened yet, so if you're in the market for a budget Android-based tablet with a respectable set of capabilities (but no Google Play access), now might be the time to pull the trigger here.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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