Amazon is going big with its newest tablet. The Seattle tech giant on Tuesday debuted the $230 Fire Max 11, its biggest tablet ever that ramps up competition with Apple’s iPad and Google’s newly released Pixel Tablet.
The Fire Max 11 has an 11-inch screen and weighs just over a pound. In its press release, Amazon said the device is “three times as durable” as the 10.9-inch 10th generation iPad, which sells for $449. It is nearly 50% faster than Amazon’s next-fastest tablet and has a new fingerprint sensor for unlocking.
Amazon’s largest tablet was previously the $150 10.1-inch Fire HD 10.
The new device will compete with Google’s new Pixel Tablet, which sells for $499 and also has an 11-inch screen.
Amazon is also offering a $330 Fire Max 11 bundle that comes with a new detachable keyboard case and stylus pen. The keyboard and pen also sell separately for $90 and $35, respectively.
Worldwide tablet sales dropped 19.1% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to IDC, coming back in line with pre-pandemic levels. Amazon had a sizable drop in shipments, falling 62% from the year-ago period, with IDC attributing it to “seasonality, piled up inventory and low demand.”
Amazon said its 10-inch tablet segment “has more than doubled” over the last couple of years, The Verge reported.
Amazon continues to release new hardware despite layoffs in its Devices & Services division.
Last week the company debuted a new Echo smart speaker and a new version of its Echo Buds wireless earbuds that compete with Apple’s AirPods. In November it released the Kindle Scribe, Amazon’s first e-reader device that people can write on.
