Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
Was: AU$99
Now: AU$69 on Amazon (save AU$30)
Overview: Buying a brand new TV can be a huge financial investment, and if you’re looking for a way to keep your current TV up-to-date with convenient access to all your favourite streaming services in one hub, then the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a great solution. It’s as easy as popping the dongle into your TV’s HDMI port and connecting to your home’s Wi-Fi. Plus the Alexa voice assistant is only a button away, so you can find your next show or movie with ease. And if you have a compatible router along with one of the best NBN plans, you’ll enjoy no-interruptions thanks to its Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.
Key features: Fire OS, Up to 4K HDR streaming, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos support, Alexa voice assistant, 8GB storage, 2GB memory, 1.8GHz quad-core CPU, 750MHz GPU.
Product launched: October 7, 2021
Price History: Back during Amazon’s Black Friday sale in 2022, we saw the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max drop to its lowest price of AU$49, surpassing the AU$59 price we’d seen earlier in 2022. Since the start of 2023, it’s casually dropped to AU$69 but has yet to hit that massive 50% discount.. There has been a deal on bundle purchases of two Fire TV Stick 4K Max’s, dropping the individual unit price down further than the AU$49, but we’re unlikely to see that happen outside of big sales like Amazon Prime Day.
Price comparison: The Good Guys: AU$69 | JB Hi-Fi: AU$69 | Optus Smart Spaces: AU$69
Reviews consensus: All around, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max made an impression as a handy and convenient way to upgrade your TV for less. 4K HDR streaming is a welcome inclusion, though you’ll need to have a TV that supports that content. Hardware upgrades in the Fire TV Stick 4K Max also make it perform faster than its predecessors, plus the inclusion of a Wi-Fi 6 antenna makes streaming shows and movies smooth and lag free, so long as your router is also compatible. Adding Alexa to the remote not only helps with searching for content, but also acts as a way to integrate the device into your smart home ecosystem.
TechRadar: ★★★★ | Tom’s Guide: ★★★★ | What Hi-FI?: ★★★★
Featured in guides: Best streaming device for your TV (2022)
Buy it if: You want a future-proof streaming device. Having come out at the tail end of 2021, the Amazon Fire TV Stick Max 4K still has quite a few good years of app support to come. So even when your TV’s own updates stop, the Fire TV Stick Max 4K will keep getting them so you won’t lose access to your favourite streaming platforms.
Don’t buy if: You don’t care for 4K streaming. In fact, Amazon has an even more affordable option in the Fire TV Stick HD that will still offer a convenient hub for streaming apps, but without the 4K support.
