Fire TV Stick Generations
First Generation (2014)
1 Fire TV Stick Generations1.1 First Generation (2014)1.2 Second Generation (2016)1.3 Fire TV Stick 4K (2018)1.4 Third Generation (2020)1.5 Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2021)2 Helpful Firestick TV articles
This Fire TV Stick has an alias called “Montoya” and is bundled with remote control (with Alexa voice assistant and without Alexa) upon purchase. It uses the Fire OS 5 as its main operating system. If you are concerned about Alexa subscription fees, please check out our article How much does Alexa Cost?.
Second Generation (2016)
This Fire TV Stick also had a 4K version, released in 2019.
Fire TV Stick 4K (2018)
It had an improved, backward-compatible voice remote with an infrared transmitter and TV buttons for TV control. This Fire TV Stick runs using the Fire OS 6 operating system. The remote for this model is also sold separately for other Fire TV Stick models as an upgrade.
Third Generation (2020)
This generation of the Fire TV Stick featured two new models, namely the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite. Released in October 2020, the Fire TV Stick model included a remote with TV controls, while the Fire TV Stick Lite’s remote only contained basic controls. Both are using the Fire OS 7 as their main operating system. These devices also had similar hardware as the Fire TV Stick 4K, including a 1080p maximum resolution and 1 GB RAM. A year later, this Fire TV Stick model was re-issued with an improved 3rd Gen Alexa Voice Remote.
Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2021)
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max was released in October 2021. It featured Wi-Fi 6 support, 2 GB RAM, and a 1.8 GHz processor. Besides 4K and Dolby Atmos support, it’s also the first Fire TV Stick model with hardware accelerated AV1 support—a new and open-source video coding format that’s used for efficient video streaming. Similar to the third-generation Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max runs using the Fire OS 7 operating system.
