Amazon won’t answer this simple question about its new Fire Sticks ‣ Diverse Daily

There’s no doubt that Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks are on the verge of changing forever.

Last year, Amazon launched the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, an affordable entry-level 4K streaming stick. But much of the conversation surrounding it wasn’t about the hardware — it was about the software. The 4K Select is the first Fire TV Stick to run Vega OS, Amazon’s new Linux-based operating system. Unlike Android-based Fire OS, which has powered every Fire TV device for well over a decade, Vega OS doesn’t support sideloading.

In a recent interview with Cord Busters, Fire TV VP Aidan Marcuss explained Amazon’s decision to switch to Vega OS and highlighted some of its key advantages. Many of these points are ones Amazon has made before, including that Vega OS is a lightweight, less resource-intensive operating system that can run on more affordable hardware. Marcuss also said it’s more secure and less vulnerable to malware because it doesn’t support sideloading.

“Apps that facilitate piracy, and other apps, can carry malware,” Marcuss said, adding that there’s “a good amount of evidence that apps can carry unwanted code and behaviour on them when they’re sideloaded.”

So while Amazon clearly has its reasons for creating Vega OS, there’s still one question it hasn’t convincingly answered: Why buy a Vega OS Fire TV Stick when a Fire OS model offers a much larger app selection and is still relatively close in price?

Vega OS lacks the diverse app store that Fire OS has

App support for Vega OS is improving, but its nowhere near Fire OS

One of the biggest drawbacks of Vega OS is that, because it’s Linux-based, many of the third-party apps available on Fire OS simply aren’t compatible with it. All the major streaming services are there, so that’s not the issue. The problem is with apps like VLC and Downloader that Fire TV users have relied on for years. Those apps were built for Android, not Linux, so they aren’t available on Vega OS.

Simply put, Fire OS has a much larger app library than Vega OS. That raises the question: why would someone buy a Vega OS-powered Fire TV Stick, such as the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, instead of a Fire OS model like the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, which offers so many more apps?

When Cord Busters asked about this, Marcuss argued that focusing on app counts misses the bigger picture.

“The way we look at app counts can be deceiving,” Marcuss said. “No customer is actually downloading 50,000 apps. The question is whether the apps they want to watch, the content that they’re looking for, are there.”

He went on to say that the “vast, vast, vast majority” of the content people actually want to stream is already available on Vega OS. And to be fair, its app selection is growing. Amazon has already expanded support to include VPN apps, for example. Even so, Vega OS still has a much smaller app library than Fire OS.

Returning to the main question, Marcuss didn’t directly answer why someone should choose a Vega OS stick over a Fire OS model with significantly more apps. However, as Cord Busters points out, the honest answer might simply be that, in a few years, consumers won’t have that choice anymore.

Vega OS is the future of Fire Sticks

Don’t expect a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max running Fire OS

Person holding Fire TV Stick 4K Max in front of TV.

Around the same time Amazon launched the new Fire TV Stick HD in April, it also revealed that all future Fire TV Sticks will run Vega OS. That means if you were hoping a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max running Fire OS might arrive one day, it unfortunately won’t. Going forward, Vega OS will power every new Fire TV Stick Amazon releases.

That’s also why the argument over choosing a Vega OS stick versus a Fire OS stick may not be one Amazon has to worry about for much longer. As Fire OS models are gradually phased out, the comparison becomes less relevant, which may also explain why Amazon hasn’t given a more definitive answer as to why someone should choose Vega OS over Fire OS, particularly when it comes to app availability.

Of the four Fire TV Sticks Amazon currently sells, the Fire TV Stick HD and Fire TV Stick 4K Select run Vega OS, while the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and Fire TV Stick 4K Max still run Fire OS.

Amazon hasn’t shared any additional details about its future hardware plans beyond confirming that Vega OS will power all future Fire TV Sticks. Even so, that seems to suggest more models are on the way. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max was last refreshed in 2023, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a new version arrive this year or next.

For users who primarily use their Fire TV Stick to watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and other major streaming services, the move to Vega OS probably won’t make much difference. But for users who value the freedom to install a wider range of apps, whether through Amazon’s official app store or by sideloading, Vega OS remains a tough sell.