

The benchmark results for a mysterious device simply named the “Amazon AFTS“, which just appeared on GFXBench, is very likely the next generation Amazon Fire TV Stick . This possible Fire TV Stick 2 is boasting some impressive horsepower with benchmarking scores surpassing the original Amazon Fire TV box. It’s no surprise because, if the specs listed are accurate, the 2nd generation Fire TV Stick will be packing entirely upgraded components.

The new device has a MediaTek 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU. A considerable upgrade from the current Fire TV Stick’s Broadcom 1.0 GHz dual-core CPU. The new CPU is nearly identical to, but slightly more powerful than, the one in the latest Fire HD6 and Fire HD7 tablets introduced last September.

The area where this possible FTVS2 really differs from its predecessor is graphics. The new device packs a PowerVR GX6250 GPU. This is a dedicated GPU, where the current Fire TV Stick has much weaker graphics processing that is integrated into the CPU. The current Fire TV Stick’s lack of dedicated GPU makes it incompatible with about 30% of the Fire TV’s game library, including Minecraft, the Fire TV’s most popular game. If the benchmarks are accurate, this new CPU and GPU combo are about twice as powerful as the original Fire TV box, making it a superb gaming device.

GFXBench is reporting a peculiar 1.5 GB of RAM for the mystery device. My guess is the device actually has 2 GB of RAM, where 512 MB is being used by the GPU, resulting in a reading of only 1.5 GB. Either way, it’s a nice upgrade over the current model’s 1 GB of memory.

No surprise that internal storage appears to still be 8GB. The benchmark is reporting 4.8 GB of storage, which is likely the available space, and not the total space. It’s safe to assume the OS and a few apps are taking up about 3.2 GB since the benchmark for the original Fire TV shows it reporting about 5.5 GB of storage. The decision to not increase internal storage is disappointing, but expected from a company like Amazon, which is so focused on cloud storage.

As for the operating system, you’ll be happy to see the likely Fire TV Stick 2 is running a variation of the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop. Since Amazon recently announced that Fire OS 5, which powers Fire TV devices, is based on Android 5, it’s no surprise this new Amazon device is being tested with the latest operating system.

Finally, the device features listed on the page include Bluetooth and Wifi, which is what you’d expect from a non-smartphone/non-tablet Android device. The benchmark did not detect an accelerometer, camera, GPS, gyroscope, or proximity sensor; further solidifying that this is very likely a new TV based device from Amazon. The listing of a 6.9″ screen is very likely an incorrect artifact caused by testing a device without a built in screen using software meant for smartphones and tablets. The benchmark for the Fire TV also incorrectly lists the device as having a screen.

There is ample evidence that this device is some form of next generation Fire TV. The name “AFTS” and specs seem to indicate it is a new Fire TV Stick and not a new Fire TV. For me, the question isn’t whether this is the new Fire TV Stick, but rather, the question is, will these specs change before the device is released? We’ll have to wait and see but, if these specs are any indication, the next generation Fire TV Stick will be a beast of a device.

SourceGFXBench

ViaWinFuture

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