Whether you have plans to buy the new Apple TV 4K or not, the mere fact that it exists might end up having a positive impact on your bank account. On Monday, Pocket-lint pointed out that Amazon has significantly cut the prices on its 4K movies and TV shows, seemingly in response to Apple’s declaration earlier this month that it would charge the same for 4K content as it does for HD content.
Amazon has yet to make any official statement about the changes, but prior to this past weekend, 4K content was often priced at over $30 on Amazon Video. While prices in that range aren’t entirely uncommon online, it’s hard to explain to consumers why they’re paying $30+ on your service when they can get 4K HDR content for $19.99 on Apple’s devices. It wouldn’t be surprising to see others follow suit in the coming months.
Although the variety of 4K content on Amazon’s website is still extremely limited, prices now start at around $5, and new releases are available for as little as $7. So while you might not always find what you’re looking for on Amazon Video, at least now you won’t be paying an arm and a leg for it.
Though the release of the Apple TV 4K likely influenced this decision, the rumored upcoming reveal of a new line of Fire TV devices also probably had something to do with it. According to a report from AFTVnews earlier this month, Amazon is expected to announce two new Fire TV streaming devices before the end of 2017, one of which will double as an Amazon Echo and have far-field microphones built in.
Even if the price of the new flagship Fire TV is cheaper than the Apple TV 4K, having more expensive 4K content on its store would have presented issues for Amazon. Now it just needs to build out the library.
