The 2nd generation Fire TV Stick has been available in the US since October of last year, but Amazon has not released it in other regions yet, like the UK and Germany, where they still sell the 1st generation device. I think this is about to change soon, due to an abrupt supply shortage of Fire TV Sticks in the US. Earlier this week, the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick suddenly became backordered in the US. Ordering one today won’t see it arrive for over a month. I suspect this is due to Amazon rerouting all supplies to the UK and Germany in preparation for the device’s imminent international launch.

If you frequent this site, you’ll know I like to keep tabs on Amazon’s hardware stock because fluctuations in supply are often an indication of product announcements. Although, that’s not always the reason because earlier this year, I hypothesised that a global shortage of devices that ship with the Fire TV Voice Remote might indicate the remote was having production issues. I still suspect this to be the case, and it’s probably contributing to the shortage of 2nd-gen Fire TV Sticks in the US.

It’s not common for a Fire TV device to abruptly go out of stock without an obvious reason, like a big sale or an expected new model. Since the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick is only four months old, it’s extremely unlikely the low supply is due to a new model coming. Since there weren’t any recent sales, an imminent UK and German launch is the most likely explanation for the abrupt shortage.

Obviously, this all entirely speculation, but hopefully soon UK and German customers will finally see the much more powerful and capable 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick become available in their country. I’ve long speculated that Amazon will launch the new Fire TV Stick and Alexa on the Fire TV in tandem overseas, so hopefully the announcement of Alexa coming to non-US Fire TVs is just around the corner as well.