There are probably a few old Fire TV Sticks still plugged into TVs across the country, collecting dust and charging just slowly enough to make you wonder if it’s time to replace them. According to a proposed class action lawsuit in California, this slowness is not an accident. The suit alleges that Amazon deliberately ended software support for the first and second generation Fire TV Sticks without adequately disclosing its intentions to do so, thereby pushing the working hardware into early obsolescence and prompting frustrated owners to purchase newer models.
The plaintiff named in the complaint, Bill Merewhuader, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, said he purchased two second-generation Fire TV Stick devices from Best Buy in 2018, four years after the company released its first Fire TV Stick. Merewhuader said that a few years later, he experienced slower streaming speeds, difficulty navigating menus and long loading times.
He ultimately was unable to use the device. He purchased new Fire TV Sticks in 2024, according to the filing.
Merewhuader claims in the complaint that Amazon intentionally made older devices underperforming to spur hardware upgrades and “broke” Fire TV devices “before their useful life expired.”
An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plaintiff’s attorneys said they had no further comment beyond the legal complaint.
Streaming devices are getting old
Popular streaming devices from big tech companies have been around for almost two decades. Apple launched AppleTV in 2007and Roku followed the following year. Google Chromecastwhich evolved streaming devices from set-top boxes to plug-in dongles, launched in 2013. Amazon followed the following year with its Fire TV box and a plug-in stick, released later in 2014.
As previous generations of devices from these tech companies age, it’s common for them to lose functionality because they can’t run newer apps or access certain features. For example, Apple’s first Apple TV box is virtually unusable today and was eventually replaced by Apple TV 4K streaming boxes.
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The filing is based in part on allegations that Amazon failed to inform buyers that Fire TV Stick devices would lose functionality or become unusable over time, and that the performance of early devices did not match promises Amazon made in its marketing.
The proposed class action would be open to anyone residing in the United States and still owning a first or second generation Fire TV Stick as of January 1, 2023 or April 1, 2023, respectively.
