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While Amazon is not yet ready to unveil any new Echo hardware, most likely reserving a bunch of upgraded smart speakers and/or smart displays for a product launch event later this fall, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max (yes, really) has arrived with little to no fanfare ahead of an October 7 delivery start.
Of course, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s “most powerful streaming stick” yet, with a “new” quad-core 1.8GHz processor under its hood that promises to deliver a substantial 40 percent improvement in raw speed compared to the quad-core 1.7GHz CPU inside the Fire TV Stick 4K.
The Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Stick Lite are all still available from their manufacturers (at discounted prices at the time of this writing) if the Fire TV Stick 4K Max feels too rich for your blood, but if you’ve ever been dissatisfied with the overall power or navigation experience of any of those cheaper models, you should absolutely give the Max variant a shot. Unless, of course, you’re willing to wait for next year’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max Pro.
Jokes aside, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max certainly offers a lot of bang for your buck, also including more RAM than all of its forerunners, Live View Picture-in-Picture functionality allowing you to check your front door camera without stopping or pausing your Netflix binge, and naturally, a third-gen Alexa Voice Remote with TV controls at no extra cost.
All of the latest video and audio technologies are also baked in, from 4K UHD to HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos, but that’s actually no different from what the Fire TV Stick 4K has going for it.