In a nutshell: There are a myriad of television brands out there to choose from, and it looks as if US consumers are about to have another option, possibly as soon as this October. According to reports, Amazon is expanding its TV-based product line and will launch its own branded sets in the United States.
Insider writes that the retail giant has been working on the upcoming TVs for the last two years. They come from the company's Amazon Devices and Lab126 R&D divisions that designed, among other things, the Kindle and the Echo speakers.
The televisions themselves were reportedly designed and manufactured by third parties; TCL is one of those mentioned. Though, Amazon is also said to be designing a separate, in-house TV. Whether that will also get a US release is unclear.
The third-party TVs are expected to be large-screen models that range from 55 to 75 inches. Being an Amazon-branded product, they will feature Alexa integration. No word if they will also come with Fire TV software pre-installed, but it seems likely. Amazon already partners with some manufacturers on Fire Edition televisions, such as the Toshiba C350 4K UHD.
This won't be Amazon's first entry into the field. It sells AmazonBasics TVs in India that are also made by third parties; it launched 50-inch and 55-inch models under the low-cost brand in the country last year. It'll be interesting to see if the TVs Amazon release in the US also fall into the budget category and how they stack up against other manufacturers' sets, many of which sell on the company's website.
In other Amazon news this week, its video games division was recently absolved of blame for the New World beta killing EVGA graphics cards. The hardware manufacture says the fault lay with poor soldering around the cards' MOSFET circuits.