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Amazon uses an Android-based operating system called Fire OS for its Amazon Fire line of tablets and Fire TV line of smart TVs. But a few years ago we learned that the company was looking to move away from Android for at least some of its devices.
Some Echo Show products are already shipping with a new Linux-based operating system called Vega OS. And now Janko Roettgers at Lowpass says Amazon could ship its first smart TV powered by Vega OS before the end of 2025. What does that mean for users? For most folks, not much – Amazon is working with developers of most popular streaming services to ensure that they’ll support the new platform. But power users who have been installing third-party apps and games from smaller developers (or sideloading Android apps) could find that some apps that work on current-gen Fire TV devices will not work on newer models running Vega OS.
Theoretically it’s possible that Amazon could eventually replace Android with Vega OS on its Fire OS tablets, but that would likely be a more complicated process since users expect thousands of apps and games to run on tablets, while most smart TV users are typically only interested in a much smaller number of apps.
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