Amazon will likely unveil its third-generation Kindle Fire tablets this fall. Last year when the company introduced its second-generation models, Amazon made the move to high-definition screens and faster processors, and it’s likely that’ll happen again this year.

Earlier this month BGR reported that Amazon’s newest tablets would each get a significant screen upgrade. Now BGR’s sources say we can also expect a serious boost in performance.

Amazon Kindle Fire

According to the reports, the new Kindle Fire HD 7 will have a 7 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel display, while the 8.9 inch model will have a 2560 x 1600 pixel screen. Both are expected to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor.

That’s Qualcomm’s most powerful chip to date, and it’s faster than the processors found in the new Google Nexus 7 or the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, for that matter.

According to BGR, the new Kindle Fire HD tablets will also have 2GB of RAM, and will likely ship with a modified version of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The new models appear to perform about 3 times as well on benchmarks as the 2012 models.

Amazon has used TI OMAP 4 processors in all of its previous tablets, but since Texas Instruments isn’t really making new chips for consumer devices anymore, Amazon had to look elsewhere if it wanted to bring higher performance chips to its new tablets. What makes the move to the Snapdragon 800 chip a little surprising is that it’s Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line processor, while Amazon tends to offer mid-range hardware at low-end prices.

It’s likely that the new Kindle Fire HD tablets will be priced about the same as last year’s models, which means later this year you may be able to pick up a 7 or 8.9 inch tablet with a higher-than-1080p display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor for $199 and up.

Or maybe BGR’s sources are just kidding (or misinformed).

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3 replies on “Rumor: Amazon’s next-gen Kindle Fire tablets to sport speedy Snapdragon 800 chips”

  1. 2560 x 600 pixel screen. Is that panorama aspect ratio? Perfect for reading ancient scrolls on your Kindle.

    I know more people with Kindle Fires than the normal variety of Android tablets so Amazon must be doing something right.

    1. I think Brad meant 2560 x 1600.

      While Amazon has gratified customers by providing reasonably priced ebooks, and attractive add-on services via Amazon Prime (ebook
      lending library, free streaming videos, free 2nd day shipping), there is a greater disservice, in the DRM-ed (copy protected, proprietary) nature of ebooks in general.

      It’s like the music business all over again. As when some DRM-ed
      music providers exited the industry, customers will be harmed if a
      provider like Barnes and Noble or Kobo exits the business and
      leaves its customers unable to read their purchased content
      should the customers’ existing devices break.

      1. Yeah, I definitely knew it was just a typo 🙂

        I don’t like DRM either, but until the same thing that happened to mp3s happens to ebooks I don’t see any way around it for the average consumer and Amazon seems to put everything together in a nice convenient package.

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