Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max revealed with WiFi 6, price to match

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Amazon got today started with a bang, announcing a new 4K Fire TV Stick. This new streaming device is officially called the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and as the name suggests, it's an upgrade to the existing Fire TV Stick 4K. Amazon says that the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is "40% more powerful than its predecessor," and while that's a rather vague claim, the new streaming stick does indeed offer some upgraded internals.

Specifically, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max will have an upgraded processor and a slight bump to RAM. The Max, for instance, uses a MediaTek MT8696 CPU with four cores clocked at 1.8GHz, while the previous-gen Fire TV Stick 4K uses a quad-core MediaTek MT8695 clocked at 1.7GHz. The Max also comes with 2GB of RAM, compared to the 1.5GB of RAM present in the original Fire TV Stick 4K.

Like its predecessor, this new Fire TV streaming stick supports Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR10+ along with Dolby Atmos audio. Specifically, Amazon says that the Max supports Dolby Atmos 7.1 and up to 5.1 through HDMI audio pass through. As you'd expect in any successor to the original Fire TV Stick 4K, the Max also comes packed with an Alexa Voice Remote.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max apparently represents a number of firsts for Amazon, too. Amazon says this is its first streaming stick with Live View Picture-in-Picture, and it's also the company's first streaming device to be Energy Star certified. In addition, this is the first Amazon-branded streaming device to support WiFi 6, thanks to its MediaTek MT7921LS.

In fact, Amazon says this is the "only streaming media device that supports WiFi 6 under $179 for smoother streaming in 4K and cloud gaming with Amazon Luna," though it may not be much longer before that changes. In any case, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is up for pre-order today at Amazon for $54.99, with a release date set for October 7th, 2021.