Amazon is throwing a curve ball into its remote lineup for Fire TV devices, and I’m not just talking about the introduction of the new introduction of the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro. Bundled with the new 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube is not the same 3rd-gen Alexa Voice remote that the previous Fire TV Cube came with, as I initially incorrectly stated in my coverage of the new flagship streaming device. Instead, Amazon is bundling in the same remote that has been included with all Fire TV Smart TVs, which is a first for a stand-alone Fire TV streamer.

Amazon introduced the 2nd-gen Alexa Voice Remote (on the left in the image above) in 2018 with the introduction of the Fire TV Stick 4K. This was hardly the “2nd” Alexa Voice remote Amazon ever released, but that’s beyond the scope of this article so we’ll let that slide for now. That remote was then updated to the 3rd-gen Alexa Voice Remote (on the right in the image above) in 2021 with the addition of app shortcut buttons and a guide button. Since then, every stand-alone Fire TV model except the Fire TV Stick
Lite has come with this remote.

With the introduction of the Fire TV Cube 3, Amazon is no longer bundling in the regular stand-alone Fire TV remote and is, instead, including its latest Fire TV Smart TV remote that was introduced in 2020. Amazon confusingly calls this remote the “Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote,” as opposed to the “Alexa Voice Remote,” which is what Amazon calls the remote that came with the 2nd-gen Fire TV and still comes with most Fire TV Sticks. I’m going to call this the Fire TV Smart TV Remote for the purposes of this article, since, before todays introduction of the Fire TV Cube 3 today, it primarily shipped with Fire TV Smart TVs.

The Fire TV Smart TV Remote being bundled with the Fire TV Cube 3 has all the same functionality as the regular Alexa Voice Remote that comes with most Fire TV Sticks and the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube. What it gains, however, is the addition of channel up/down buttons, a dedicated button for Settings, and a button that brings up a list of recently used apps and content, which I cover here in more detail. The remote is also about 0.6 inches longer than the regular Fire TV remote.

It seems a bit odd that Amazon would decide to now bundle in its Smart TV remote with its latest standalone Fire TV streamer, but that’s what has happened. However, that’s not nearly as odd as what Amazon is doing when you select to bundle in the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro with a 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube. You would think that making that selection means you’ll get the better remote instead of the regular one, but no, you actually get both remotes. Bundling the new remote with the purchase doesn’t save you any money over just buying the new Fire TV Cube and the new remote separately.

I guess Amazon didn’t want to make dedicated packaging for the new device and the new remote, so your only option is to get both remotes. That’s a shame because I expect that many people willing to buy Amazon’s most expensive Fire TV ever would also be the type of people that would want the better remote. Those people, who are Amazon’s most dedicated Fire TV customers based on them wanting the best setup, are, unfortunately, being penalized by being forced to pay for both remotes when they only want one.