The smart TV market is fierce, but Amazon is determined to keep up with Roku, Apple, Samsung, and other rivals. Today the company announced a slew of new TV products, including an updated Fire TV Cube, more partnerships with TV manufacturers, the first Fire TV soundbar, and increased international availability.

Fire TV Cube

Amazon's original Borg Cube Fire TV Cube was released a year ago, combining the functionality found in Fire TV sticks with far-field microphones for voice control. The new model is still $119.99, but Amazon says it's twice as powerful as the first-gen Cube and supports 'Local Voice Control,' meaning some voice commands ("Alexa, go home," "Alexa, select number one," etc.) are up to 4x faster than before.

The new Fire TV Cube is available for pre-order on Amazon in the United States for $119.99, in Canada for $149.99, the United Kingdom for £109.99, Germany for €119.99, and Japan for ¥14980. There's not much of a reason to upgrade if you already have the existing model, but performance improvements are always nice.

Buy: Amazon

Fire TV Edition

Amazon is drastically expanding its 'Fire TV Edition' lineup, which consists of TVs with the Fire TV software experience (instead of Roku, webOS, etc.). The company is now working with Dixons Carphone, Skyworth, Arcelik, TPV, Compal, MediaMarktSaturn, and Grundig to release more models in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria.

In the United States, another model of the super-popular Toshiba Fire TV Edition will be available next month at Best Buy. The new model is 65 inches, and will be priced at $599. Sadly, it's not up for pre-order yet.

Amazon also revealed the first soundbars with Fire TV built-in, which could give the JBL Link Bar and Roku Smart Soundbar (the latter was just announced today) a run for their money. The first one is the Anker Nebula Soundbar, which supports 4K Ultra HD, Alexa voice control (through a remote), Dolby Vision pass-through, and more.

The Anker Nebula Soundbar

The Nebula Soundbar is already available for pre-order for $229.99 in the United States, $269.99 in Canada, £179.99 in the United Kingdom, and €209.99 in Germany. It will begin shipping on November 21.

Buy: Nebula Soundbar, Grundig OLED Fire TV Edition, Toshiba 65-inch Fire TV Edition (not available yet), JVC Fire TV Edition


Beyond the new devices, Amazon is also bringing its Fire lineup to more countries. The regular Fire TV Stick and Stick 4K are now available in France, Italy, and Spain for the first time. Before now, only the Fire TV Stick 'Basic Edition' was offered in those regions.

If you already have a Basic Edition, it will receive a software update with the same interface as the newer devices, and Amazon will give you a 50% discount if you decide to upgrade.

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