Amazon is updating the foundation of Fire OS to something more modern

Amazon's next Fire 7 tablet will come with a new version of the company's Fire OS operating system, called Fire OS 8 (h/t to Lilliputing and AFTVnews). It's based on Android 11, a significant upgrade to the basic technology currently powering Amazon's tablets; The previous version, Fire OS 7, is based on Android 9, which was released in 2018.

According to Amazon's developer documentation, the update may bring some new user features. For one, it brings a system-wide dark mode to the OS that developers can follow their apps to. Mostly, though, it's good for privacy and security. The upgrade should also make it easier for Amazon to push security patches, along with various updates to the permissions system. Google is no longer providing updates to Android 9.

Currently, there is only one tablet that is shown in Amazon's document as Fire OS 8: 2022 Fire 7. Given that the 2020 Fire HD 8 has more or less the same chip, it looks like it could run Fire OS 8 if Amazon decides to. update it. The company did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment on whether it intends to update any of its existing tablets with the new version of the OS.

Even if the update doesn't mean that the 2022 Fire 7 will have a dramatically different UI than the 2019 version, the Fire OS upgrade could make things easier for developers moving forward. While there are still plenty of Fire OS 7 devices running around for quite some time, the fact that Amazon isn't offering a device running it in 2022 means it will eventually start to take off. In turn, this will allow developers to start using features and code that won't work on Android 9, which can be especially helpful if they're developing for both Amazon's and Google's app stores; At this time, about 60 percent of Android devices are running at least Android 10.