Amazon just took the wraps off a bunch of new hardware

Apple’s big hardware announcement event was last week, Microsoft’s is next month, and Google’s is coming shortly after that, but what about Amazon? Not wanting to be left out of all these awesome announcement events, Amazon had one of its own earlier today, and don’t worry, there wasn’t a Fire Phone 2. In fact, there wasn’t any smartphone, but there were a bunch of tablets, ranging from the ridiculously low price of $49.99 to the more expensive but still affordable price of $229.99. On top of that, the company took the wraps off the new Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, which couldn’t come at a better time considering how the new Apple TV is almost upon us.  

Amazon on Thursday announced seven new devices, among them the Fire tablet, a “groundbreaking new tablet for under $50.” By under $50, it really means $49.99, unless you choose to purchase the Fire tablet via the other super-exciting deal that Amazon is offering: in a six-pack for $249.95. Yes, Amazon wants you to buy these tablets the way you’d buy cheap beer. Business Insider reports that an Amazon exec said as much at the product briefing, joking that “it was definitely inspired by PBR.” The Fire tablet is slated for release on Sept. 30, and the official tag line on the deal, per Amazon’s order page, is “Make it a six-pack. Buy five, get one free.” After that, you might as well buy a 24-pack of Gatorade and a 48-pack of light bulbs so you can just skip the trip to Costco altogether. Jokes aside, you can potentially see the Fire tablet six-pack being an appealing option for people looking to buy cheap tablets en masse. So, families, schools, anyone who wants an easy holiday gift to distribute, and perhaps even some companies? Jeff Bezos says in Amazon’s release that the Fire tablet is “incredibly durable” and “sets a new bar for what customers should expect from a low-cost tablet.” The specs include a quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, storage capacity that goes up to 128 GB with an SD drive, and all-day battery life.