Amazon Alexa Tablets are here, and they're gunning for the iPad Pro

The Amazon Fire Tablet is dead. It's been one of the biggest-selling tablets in the last 16 years, and is estimated that one in three households already have one. So why kill it?

Well, they haven't, they've just rebranded it. Welcome to the new Amazon Alexa Tablet. This is more than just a name change, though, as the new models are vastly more powerful and have much greater potential for your entertainment needs.

The new Alexa tablets come in three main forms. First there's the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro – the 12-inch flagship device. Then there's the Alexa Tablet 11 and the smaller Alexa Tablet 8, which are 11 inches and 8 inches, respectively.

So what makes these devices different from the previous Fire Tablets? First of all, these now all run a full version of Android 16, giving them access to the complete array of Android apps from the Google Play Store.

Then there's access to an assistant. Amazon says that its Alexa+, the AI-enhanced version of its assistant, is baked into the tablet, rather than just being an app. This means it's not only accessible from any screen, but it can also understand context around what you're working on.

The 12-inch Alexa Tablet Pro 12 has a 3:2 ratio to give you more viewing area than your typical tablet. That display has a 280ppi resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, but perhaps best of all it's a Nanomatte display, created with Corning to give an anti-reflective finish that looks like paper.

Finally, there's the power, which comes from an 8-core performance CPU and an integrated 7-core GPU. This is three times the CPU performance and nine times the GPU performance of previous Fire Tablets. There's 8GB or 16GB of memory and up to 256GB of storage.

It's also compatible with a new Tablet Pro Pen stylus and a magnetically attaching Pro Keyboard. This is a full-sized keyboard with a large trackpad and 1.3mm key travel, giving it a real laptop-like feel.

Alexa Tablet 11 and Alexa Tablet 8 are designed for more casual use, such as streaming, gaming, reading and browsing. Though the 11 still offers an 8-core processor with 8GB RAM.

The smaller Alexa Tablet 8 has an 8.7-inch display and an all-aluminium design, making it highly portable and easy to hold in one hand. A real iPad mini competitor.

If that's not enough, there are also new tablets for kids. The Amazon Kids Tablets come in 8.7-inch and 11-inch sizes (like the Alexa Tablet 8 and 11) but come with kid-proof cases and parental-controlled operating systems. Plus a one-year subscription to Amazon's Kids+ for all the games and apps, video and book content your child will need.

All of the new Alexa Tablets feature Kindle integration, which transforms the device when selected. Once you enter the Kindle model, the blue light filter activates, notifications are silenced and the battery life extends. You can pick from either a muted colour display (like the Colorscribe) or a full e-ink look for the Kindle mode, and you can watch it change before your eyes.

The Kindle mode also allows the annotation tools from Kindle Scribe devices, letting you highlight, underline and add notes to whatever you are reading.

One really nice feature is the page turn animation, which gives you a satisfying curl of the corner as you drag the page across the screen.

All three of these new Alexa Tablets look really impressive, but it's the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro that really stands out. Not just for the power it offers and the options the new Android operating system brings, but also for the matte display and e-reader capabilities.

This feels like a tablet not just competing with Apple's lineup but massively undercutting it. The Alexa Tablet 12 Pro starts from just £449.99 or £499.99 with the Nanomatte screen. That's cheaper than the iPad Air.

Alexa Tablet 11 starts from £289.99 and the Alexa Tablet 8 starts from £199.99. The Pro Pen and Tablet Pro Keyboard can be purchased separately, or as part of a bundle.