Amazon in court: Fire TV sticks allegedly made unusable on purpose

When buying smartphones or tablets, consumers are often advised to check how long the manufacturer will continue to provide updates – and apparently the same now applies to streaming sticks. Amazon is currently in court in the United States over older Fire TV sticks. A class action lawsuit accuses the company of effectively devaluing devices from the first two generations. The issue is not the hardware itself, but the software: the central allegation is that Amazon did not clearly communicate the end of software support for older Fire TV sticks (with the current generation selling for around $38 on Amazon).

According to the lawsuit, support for the first generation ended in December 2022, with the second generation following shortly afterward. At the same time, Amazon is said to have created the impression that support would continue until 2024. The plaintiffs see this as the core problem: customers were not clearly informed about how long the devices would remain fully functional. As a result, apps no longer worked properly, performance became sluggish and some devices reportedly ended up being barely usable. The case is therefore being cited as a possible example of planned obsolescence. After all, a device does not have to be physically broken to become worthless – it is enough for essential software support to disappear.

The complaint was filed by a US customer who reportedly bought two second-generation Fire TV sticks in 2018. A few years later, the devices became increasingly slow and eventually unusable, forcing him to buy new models in 2024. Amazon has not yet commented publicly on the case. How the lawsuit will ultimately play out remains to be seen. A similar situation previously arose with Amazon’s Cloud Cam. As The Verge reported in 2022, Amazon shut down the service for the security camera on December 2, 2022. As compensation, some affected users were offered free Blink Mini cameras or, for certain models, a fourth-generation Echo. Whether affected Fire TV Stick users will also receive replacement devices remains uncertain.