Amazon’s Fire TV line of devices now includes three different Fire TV Stick models with prices ranging from $30 to $50. But under the hood it turns out that all three models have remarkably similar hardware.
In fact, the $30 Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite and $40 Fire TV Stick are basically identical. The only difference is that the Lite model comes with a paired down Alexa Voice Remote Lite that lacks hardware buttons for controlling the volume and power on your TV.
And the Fire TV Stick 4K? It’s got a slightly more powerful processor capable of driving a 4K display and 500MB more RAM. But otherwise, it’s pretty much the same as the more affordable models. It does ship with an older version of the Android-based Fire OS, but Amazon will be rolling out a software update to the Fire TV Stick 4K soon.
Here’s a look at how Amazon’s 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick (2020), 1st-gen Fire TV Stick Lite (2020), and 1st-gen Fire TV Stick (2018) stack up in terms of hardware:
| Fire TV Stick Lite | Fire TV Stick | Fire TV Stick 4K | |
| Video | 1080p @ 60 fps HDR10+ | 1080p @ 60 fps HDR10+ | 4K @ 60 fps HDR10+ |
| CPU | MT8695D 1.7 GHz quad-core 32-bit (software limitation) | MT8695D 1.7 GHz quad-core 32-bit (software limitation) | MTK8695+MT7668 1.7 GHz quad-core 32-bit (software limitation) |
| GPU | IMG GE8300 | IMG GE8300 | IMG GE8300 |
| RAM | 1GB DDR4 | 1GB DDR4 | 1.5 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 8GB | 8GB | 8GB |
| WiFi | WiFi 5 2 x 2 MIMO | WiFi 5 2 x 2 MIMO | WiFi 5 2 x 2 MIMO |
| Bluetooth | BT 5.0 | BT 5.0 | BT 5.0 |
| Ethernet | 10/100 (with dongle) | 10/100 (with dongle) | 10/100 (with dongle) |
| OS | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | Fire OS 6 (Android 7.1) |
| Remote | Alexa voice remote Lite | Alexa voice remote | Alexa voice remote |
| Price | $30 | $40 | $50 |
For the price the hardware is poor on all models.
Terrible ram and storage sizes.
minimum 2gb ram with models up having 4gb and storage wise 8gb then 16gb+ for higher models also add sd card support (the extra ethernet adapter as well is a joke not even gigabit)
I don’t know why people buy these things
Speaking for the 4k version, hardware storage might be poor, but performance isn’t. Wasn’t happy with any of the previous versions, but the 4k version has more than enough fire power. As long as you can sideload and still put a launcher on it, I’ll still have lots of uses for one, whether that’s taking one with me while traveling or an extra one concealed behind the tv, they are extremely handy because of their size. For $25 for the two 4K sticks I currently have, I’m not complaining.
Perfect example of how I use the 4k stick. Get an otg cable, sideload your favorite media player app or download vimu player from amazon, and connect a 512gb flash drive full of media for on the go. Perfect companion if there’s nothing good to watch where you are. As long as thr flash drive is in the FAT32 format, it will work fine and anything in the x265 codec works fine as well. I’ve even got a 2tb seagate wireless drive running on the stick using kodi with a ton of movies + tv on that which connects through wifi. Been solid for years. The entertainment that you can get out of this thing is pretty impressive when you think outside of the box. The apps you can use run with from iptv to games with a bluetooth controller.
You want to complain about specs. Look at the reviews on that new xiaomi mi stick. The hardware on that is woefully under-powered based on the reviews I’m reading. A stuttering mess with apps like hulu. It’s no Nvidia Shield, but rarely have I had any performance issues from all the times I’ve been using the 4k stick.
You don’t have to worry about asking me why I bought it. I could give you a hundred reasons.
Meant $25 each for the two 4k sticks I own. No edit option for my original post.
There’s a serious mistake on at least the Stick 4K specs.
The specs read 32 bit under the CPU SoC, but the actual cores are 64 bit ARM64/v8-A based A53 cores.
The OS is the limiting factor as for some reason Amazon is gimping all their devices with a 32 bit version of Android thereby limiting the full performance of the SoC’s they use.
I should clarify that, but this is how Amazon lists the specs, because there’s no support for 64-bit applications on these devices. So unless it becomes possible to root these sticks and install custom ROMs, for all intents and purposes, these are 32-bit devices.
Just compare the Fire TV Stick 4K and the AppleTV 4K, the latter looks like a complete dinosaur.