Amazon expands $50 Fire tablet lineup with new colors, offers 16GB model for $70

Amazon has expanded its budget-priced tablet lineup, offering the $50 Fire in new magenta, blue and tangerine colors, and also launching a 16-gigabyte version priced at $70 [updated].

The 7-inch, $49.99 fire is now available to purchase in blue, magenta and tangerine, joining the original black option. As before, it sports a 1.3-gigahertz quad-core processor, rear- and front-facing cameras, and 8 gigabytes of storage with a microSD slot for expansion.

All four colors are also available in a larger 16-gigabyte internal capacity for $69.99. As is par for the course with Amazon, the touchscreen tablets come with "special offers" in the form of advertisements that contribute to the bargain pricing.

Finally, the Fire Kids Edition has also been expanded to include a green kid-proof case and 16 gigabytes of internal storage for $119.99. Children's models with blue and pink cases are also available in 16-gigabyte capacities for the same price, while the 8-gigabyte model remains available for $99.99.

The low-end $50 Fire tablet debuted last September. The online retailer has aggressively targeted cost-minded consumers with low-end devices that devices like Apple's iPad don't reach.

Apple, instead, has been pushing even further toward the high end of the tablet market. Its 12.9-inch iPad Pro launched last fall with a starting price of $799, while the 9.7-inch model sells starting at $599 — Â a $100 increase over the historical starting price for a new iPad in that size.

12 Comments

slprescott 759 comments · 10 Years

About 8 years ago

I'm curious to see if Apple releases an iPad Mini with Pencil support. Kids would be a candidate market; great Christmas gift!

I guess the name would be "iPad Mini Pro"?

rogifan_new 4297 comments · 9 Years

sog35 said:

More. Cheap. Crap.

How irresponsible this company is. These pathetic tablets last only a few months. While iPads last for 5 years. Why isn't anyone mentioning the economic impact all these cheap POS tablets have on the environment? I bet the average life of Kindle crap is less than a year. So they are generating 5x the amount of waste.

And yet you want Apple to license its operating systems to companies that will make cheap crap just like this (there are no high end hardware makers that would adopt iOS).

wood1208 2932 comments · 10 Years

I am shocked Amazon crap on this site. Once is a crap is always a crap. I have HP TouchPad tablet sitting in my drawer since 2011 which is still better than current Amazon tablet.

singularity 1323 comments · 11 Years

sog35 said:

rogifan_new said:

And yet you want Apple to license its operating systems to companies that will make cheap crap just like this (there are no high end hardware makers that would adopt iOS).

Did you even read what I wrote?

Any hardware that would be licensed to use iOS would have to be approved by Apple. It would not be a free for all like Android. Apple would make sure the hardware was of good quality (equal to older iPhones). Its not that hard to build a phone with quality hardware. The hard part is the OS.

High end hardware makers would jump at the chance to make phones with iOS. Sony, HTC, Samsung, Nokia would all pay the royalty fee to load their phones with iOS.

You sir are insane. Doolally, off your rocker, a brewery short of a six pack.
iOS should only be used on an Apple piece of hardware.

singularity said:

sog35 said:

Did you even read what I wrote?

Any hardware that would be licensed to use iOS would have to be approved by Apple. It would not be a free for all like Android. Apple would make sure the hardware was of good quality (equal to older iPhones). Its not that hard to build a phone with quality hardware. The hard part is the OS.

High end hardware makers would jump at the chance to make phones with iOS. Sony, HTC, Samsung, Nokia would all pay the royalty fee to load their phones with iOS.

You sir are insane. Doolally, off your rocker, a brewery short of a six pack.
iOS should only be used on an Apple piece of hardware.

Point made by previous commentator is if Apple/IOS wants to completely dominate mobile world than it could have open sourced IOS to any phone manufacturers like android but IOS choose to be not prostitute where everyone can muck around..Same goes for MAC OSX. Apple software on Apple hardware is the best marriage in haven.