Amazon updates Fire TV Stick with Dolby Atmos and HDR support; will ship October 15 at a price of Rs 3,999

Amazon announced the all-new Fire TV Stick at its annual fall hardware event last night. The biggest highlight of the Fire TV Stick, now in its third generation, is that it is rocking the same core hardware as Amazon’s more powerful (and more expensive) Fire TV Stick 4K. This makes it, as per Amazon, up to 50% faster than the previous model. Even with its updated hardware, Amazon is keeping the price same which means that the Fire TV Stick will still sell for Rs 3,999 when it starts shipping from October 15.

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The third-generation Fire TV Stick has the same quad-core (clocked at 1.7Ghz) processor as the Fire TV Stick 4K. This, in addition to making it more powerful than the second-generation model, also brings support for Dolby Atmos and HDR. Amazon says the updated Fire TV Stick also consumes up to 50% less power than the last model. Streaming is still capped at 1080p 60fps, though you can expect it to be faster with the newer hardware.

Both Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite are now available for pre-order in India.

Alongside the Fire TV Stick, Amazon has also announced a more affordable Fire TV Stick Lite that now becomes the default base model in the company’s streaming dongle portfolio. The Fire TV Stick Lite costs Rs 2,999 and features 1080p 60fps streaming and support for HDR. This one, unlike the Fire TV Stick, gets a simplified voice remote without dedicated buttons for power, volume and mute. The Fire TV Stick Lite will also start shipping from October 15.

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On the software side of things, Amazon has announced that the Fire TV user interface will get an update, or rather a redesign, later this year with “new content-discovery features, enhanced Alexa voice integration, and user profiles for personalised recommendations.”