Amazon has announced that it’s expanding its TV lineup to include a new series of HDTVs that will start at just $199. Amazon is calling it the 2-Series and it comes in two screen sizes, 32 and 40 inches, that offer either HD or Full HD resolution, respectively.
What makes this series notable compared to other budget options out there is that it includes HDR support for better color and contrast in addition to having Fire TV built in. The latter means you won’t have to worry about buying an external streaming device like, say, the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K to access any streaming services.
To top things off, the 2-Series comes with the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote that has a built-in microphone for voice search and navigation, as well as support for open-source Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) that came to the Fire TV Cube Gen 2 last year.
The 2-Series will go up on Amazon for purchase starting on March 22 (today) alongside smaller versions of the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED TV that include 43- 50- and 55-inch models.
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Amazon opting to create more affordable TVs isn’t all that surprising — since announcing its first two TVs, the 4-Series and Amazon Omni TV — the Seattle-based company has been all about bringing high-end TV tech to a wider audience.
The new Amazon 2-Series is just the natural evolution of that mindset.
Even better for Amazon is that there’s limited competition in this space. Vizio and TCL have been focused on smaller, more affordable TVs for years but many of the major players like Samsung, Sony and LG have been shifting their focus to larger TVs.
Roku recently announced that it’s moving into the budget space with its $149 Roku Select TVs that start at 24 inches — and with Roku TV on-board they’re a pretty similar value proposition to what Amazon is offering.
Without having tested either of the TVs for ourselves we can’t say which of the two is the better budget option, but hopefully that’s something we can get to the bottom of shortly after launch.
Want to see the prices on the other Fire TV models? Keep scrolling!
