Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

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Editors' Note: This is the most recent version of the Fire TV Stick 4K. Read our review from October 6, 2023 below.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has been one of our favorite media streaming devices since its debut in 2018. The 2023 model adds Wi-Fi 6, a more powerful processor, and more memory than the previous model, for the same $49.99 price. All of these changes ensure a responsive experience so you can browse and load content without delay. Thanks to these upgrades, the second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K retains its position as one of our favorite media streamers and earns our Editors’ Choice award.

Design: Rounder Outside

The new Fire TV Stick 4K is slightly more rounded than the straight-angled previous model, with curved corners and sloped sides. It’s the same size as its predecessor, measuring 3.9 by 1.2 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighing just 1.5 ounces. An HDMI plug sticks out of one end of the stick, and if your TV’s ports are crowded, a short HDMI extender with a 0.7-inch-wide plug is included to help it fit a bit easier.

A micro USB port sits on one of the side edges for power via the included USB cable and wall adapter. Since TV USB ports tend to be underpowered, we recommend plugging the stick into a power outlet for consistent performance. The use of micro USB is a bit disappointing because it’s a fading standard that’s just a bit more awkward and finicky than USB-C. That's a minor complaint, though, and once it's connected you won't have to think about it much.

The included remote is the same 5.6-inch slim black wand we’ve seen with other Fire TV devices. A pinhole microphone sits near the top along with power and Alexa buttons, with a circular navigation pad below it. Menu and playback buttons rest in the center of the remote, with volume controls and dedicated service buttons for Amazon Prime Video, DirecTV, Netflix, and Peacock further down. The remote wirelessly connects to the Fire TV Stick, and it also has an infrared blaster for controlling your TV's power and volume.

Specs: Faster Inside

Besides the more rounded design, the Fire TV Stick 4K gets a few internal upgrades over its predecessor. It has a 1.7GHz processor that Amazon claims is 25% faster than the last model, 2GB of RAM (up from the first stick's 1.5GB), and Wi-Fi 6. The original Fire TV Stick 4K was never particularly sluggish anyway, so these upgrades will mostly help make opening and navigating large apps feel a bit more responsive.

Wi-Fi 6 is the biggest change, giving the new Fire TV Stick 4K the same wireless capabilities as the previous Fire TV Stick 4K Max (while the new $59.99 4K Max has even more advanced Wi-Fi 6E, though not the most cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7). The most important factor to streaming media consistently and at the highest quality is network speed, and the stick's dual-band 802.11b/a/g/n/ac/ax Wi-Fi support helps guarantee that.

That doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily see a major difference even then, though. To take advantage of Wi-Fi 6, you need a Wi-Fi 6 router, and even then the sheer speed of the connection won’t be what makes it appealing. Amazon recommends a connection that’s at least 36Mbps to get the best 4K streaming experience, and that’s well within the realm of what Wi-Fi 5 can do. Wi-Fi 6 can handle busy wireless environments better than Wi-Fi 5, which means you can more consistently get faster speeds and fewer connection hiccups even when you have many different devices on your network. If you have a home loaded with smart home technology; multiple computers, phones, and tablets; and/or several TVs streaming 4K content at the same time, Wi-Fi 6 should offer a better experience for everyone at once.

The Wi-Fi 6E found on the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max should be able to deal with crowded networks even better because it uses the even emptier (for now) 6GHz band, but you'll need a Wi-Fi 6E router like Amazon's own Eero Pro 6E to see any difference.

Interface: Fire TV and Amazon Alexa

After nearly a decade of updates and refinements, the Fire TV platform continues to provide a powerful, if still largely Amazon-centric, experience. Amazon Prime Video content shows up first and foremost on the home screen, while Fire TV-specific and Amazon Freevee content populates the live channel guide. All major streaming services are available on the platform, though, including Apple TV, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Sling, Tubi, Twitch, and YouTube. Most of those apps also display suggestions in Fire TV once you’re logged in, and several, like Sling and YouTube TV, even appear on the live TV guide. The top third of the home screen still usually shows Prime Video content suggestions, but you can scroll down to look through your favorite services without opening each app. After adding an app to your favorites list, selecting it on the home screen will show multiple rows of suggestions, including recently viewed content.

If you run a home media server, apps like Jellyfin and Plex are available on Fire TV. However, the platform lags behind Google TV and Roku in terms of direct screen mirroring. It only supports Miracast, which lets you mirror your Windows screen to your TV, but in testing the service is more sluggish and less reliable than Apple AirPlay (available on Roku devices) and Google Cast (on Google TV devices).

Bluetooth connectivity means you can listen privately to whatever you’re watching via Bluetooth headphones. The stick also supports Bluetooth game controllers for use with cloud-based titles on Amazon Luna and a good selection of retro and casual games directly on the stick.

As you might expect, Amazon's Alexa voice assistant is built into the Fire TV Stick. To access the virtual assistant, press and hold the blue Alexa button on the remote, and speak into the microphone above it. Alexa remains a powerful tool that can search for content, control compatible smart home devices, and provide general information like weather and sports scores. It’s not hands-free unless you have a separate Echo smart speaker. The (non-Wi-Fi 6) Fire TV Cube is the only Fire TV media streamer with built-in hands-free Alexa, though many Fire TV-based televisions like the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED have far-field microphones for the voice assistant.

Even limited to button activation, Alexa is very useful when you want to look for something to watch.

Streaming: A Bit Quicker

The Fire TV Stick 4K is a 4K media streamer that supports high dynamic range (HDR) content Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and hybrid log gamma (HLG), as well as Dolby Atmos spatial audio.

I tested the Fire TV Stick 4K on my home Wi-Fi 6 router with a gigabit cable connection. Predictably, the stick loaded streaming media quickly and seldom lingered on a lower-than-maximum resolution. Everything I watched, from Prime Video to Crunchyroll to Twitch, played within seconds and looked crisp and vibrant. Content libraries also populated quickly, instantly loading thumbnails or covers for movies and TV shows with little to no hiccups when I scrolled rapidly.

The stick is no slouch on local processing, either, but it doesn’t necessarily feel “25% faster” than the last Fire TV Stick 4K. During testing, all apps loaded in five to ten seconds from the home screen when not already open, a fairly normal wait. When an app is already open, I can switch from the home screen back to it in an instant. Moreover, I can easily flip between Twitch streams and YouTube without waiting. When using more than two apps at a time, the Fire TV tends to automatically close apps to free up memory, so I still regularly saw loading screens. What matters most is that general navigation and jumping between a few of your most-used apps will be reliably zippy.

Alexa is surprisingly fast on the Fire TV Stick 4K, offering the biggest jump in performance you’ll likely notice from the previous version. The virtual assistant now answers commands and questions almost instantly, with no more waiting and staring at the blue bar on the bottom of the screen as Alexa thinks.

I tested the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K alongside the standard Fire TV Stick 4K Max and saw very little difference in performance, despite the Max model having an even faster 2.0GHz processor and Wi-Fi 6E (though, to be fair, I don’t currently have a Wi-Fi 6E home network). In my tests, both devices are equally quick to flip between and navigate apps, and load video streams

Amazon promises that generative AI will make Alexa interactions feel much more conversational and natural, and expand its ability to find content using a wider range of descriptors than simple labels like genre and actor. At the time of this writing, the new experience is not enabled on the Fire TV Stick 4K, but Amazon expects to launch it later this year.

One of the Best Media Hubs

The $49.99 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is just as compelling a media streamer as its predecessor, with loads of integrated apps and services, Amazon Alexa voice support with faster replies, and excellent performance overall. It doesn't offer a drastic speed bump or any major new features over the previous Fire TV Stick 4K besides Wi-Fi 6, so unless you have a Wi-Fi 6 router there’s little reason to upgrade to the new model if you already have one. If you’re looking for a new media streamer, though, this should be one of your first picks. As for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, if you have a Wi-Fi 6E router and are willing to spend the extra $10, it's a good way to future-proof your media streaming setup.

If you prefer Google Assistant over Alexa, the Chromecast With Google TV is another favorite media hub. It also doesn’t have Wi-Fi 6, but it’s still fast and reliable, with a more Google-centric interface and the ability to stream directly from your Android phone or Chrome tabs with Google Cast. Both are fantastic devices that drastically expand what your TV can do, and are equally deserving of our Editors’ Choice award.