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What you need to know
- Amazon's Fire TV could soon ditch its Android-based Fire OS in favor of a new, in-house system called Vega OS, built on Linux.
- The first real clue slipped out in a job listing, which mentioned a Vega OS product for Fire TV set for 2025, before Amazon quietly edited the posting.
- A new report says Amazon could officially announce Vega OS at its September 30 hardware event.
Amazon looks ready to overhaul its Fire TV lineup in a way that could change how millions of people stream at home.
A new report from The Verge suggests that the company is preparing to move away from Android-based Fire OS and instead introduce a homegrown platform called Vega OS, built on Linux (via 9to5Google). While Fire TV devices have long relied on Amazon’s custom version of Android, evidence is mounting that the company wants more control over its ecosystem, and that means cutting Google’s software out of the picture.
The clearest sign of this shift came from an earlier job listing, which directly referenced a “Vega OS product” for Fire TV with a 2025 timeline. That mention was quickly edited out, but not before it raised eyebrows.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Vega OS either. Rumors about the project date back to 2023, and several Amazon devices like the Echo Hub, Echo Spot, and Echo Show 5 already use lighter versions of it.
The reveal might be just days away
What’s new now is timing. The Verge reports that Amazon could reveal Vega OS as early as September 30, during its big fall hardware event in New York.
If Vega OS does debut this year, it’s likely to show up first on a more affordable Fire TV Stick rather than a high-end television. Importantly, existing Fire TV hardware won’t suddenly lose support — those devices should keep running Fire OS with Android under the hood for the foreseeable future. But for new models, the software story is about to change.
A key difference with Vega OS is how it handles apps. Fire OS can run Android apps, but Vega will need developers to create apps just for it, using tools like React Native or HTML5. As a result, sideloading APKs might not work the same way or could go away completely.
Big streaming apps like Netflix and Apple TV are already building for Vega, but it’ll take a while before the lineup feels as complete as today’s Fire TV. Developers now have to split their time between Fire OS and Vega, and some won’t treat the new system as a priority right away.
