Amazon has announced all-new 12th-gen Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 8 Plus tablets for 2022 which are faster and have longer battery life. These tablets are likely the ones we saw leak earlier this month and replace the existing Fire HD 8 tablets, which were released in 2020. Improved this year with the new tablets is performance, battery life, charging, cameras, and more.

The most significant update this year for the Fire HD 8 is a bump in power. Gone is the 2 GHz quad-core CPU from the previous model and in its place is a new MediaTek MT8169A 2 GHz hexa-core processor that Amazon says makes the new tablet 30% faster than the outgoing model. With that power bump also comes a price bump to $99.99, which is $10 more than the 2020 Fire HD 8. Accompanying the new CPU is still just 2GB of RAM, unless you bump up to the “Plus” model, but more on that later. Internal storage continues to start at 32GB and a 64GB model is available for $30 more. Thankfully, there’s still a micro SD card slot that can accept up to 1TB of expandable storage, so you might be better off spending your extra money on a card instead of on internal storage.

Other specs that remain unchanged include 802.11ac WiFi 5 and the screen, which still barely makes it into the “HD” category thanks to its 1280 x 800 resolution. The tablet still has a USB-C port for charging with the included 5W charger that tops the battery off in 5 hours. The new Fire HD 8 now lasts 13 hours on a full charge, according to Amazon, which is 1 hour more than the previous model. That’s impressive considering the new tablet is both lighter (337 vs 355 grams) and a hair thinner (0.37 vs 0.4 inches) than the outgoing model.

Amazon is continuing its recent trend of offering a more premium Fire HD 8 Plus that costs $119.99, which is just $20 more than the base tablet. For the extra money, you get 3GB of RAM instead of the 2GB in the regular model. You also get a tablet that is capable of wireless charging, but you’ll need to provide your own wireless charger, such as Amazon’s own Wireless Charging Dock for tablets. Even if you don’t use the wireless charging feature, the Plus model still gives you a charging advantage because it comes with a 9W charger included, which tops the battery off in only 3 hours compared to the 5W charger included with the base tablet that takes 5 hours to fully charge.

The regular Fire HD 8 still comes with front and rear 2-megapixel cameras capable of 720p video. However, new for this year is a bump up in camera quality for the Fire HD 8 Plus. While the front camera on the Plus model is the same as the base model, the rear camera is now a 5-megapixel shooter that can record 1080p video. Both tablets will run Amazon’s latest operating system, Fire OS 8, which is based on Android 11 and debuted earlier this year on the new Fire 7 tablet.

The Fire HD 8 for $99.99 is available to pre-order now in Black, Denim (blue), and Rose (pink) with 32GB of storage or with 64GB of storage for $129.99. The Fire HD 8 Plus is $119.99 with 32GB of storage or for $149.99 with 64GB of storage. The Plus model only comes in Black. As always, Amazon is also selling the Fire HD 8 Kids version of its new tablet and a Fire HD 8 Kids Pro version, where the difference between the two is only the case that comes included. Both of those are $149.99 and include the base Fire HD 8 tablet, a kid-proof case, a 2-year worry-free replacement guarantee, no lock-screen ads, and a 1-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. All tablet variants will be released on October 19th.

For a comparison table of the 2022, 2020, and 2018 Fire HD 8 tablet models, see this article.