Here's our round up of previous Kindle Fire 2 rumours.
We've been rounding up all the rumoured Kindle Fire 2 specs, release date and more and put together this little piece to share them all with you ahead of today's Amazon launch event.
Kindle Fire 2 release date
The Kindle Fire 2 is set to land in spring 2012, according to DigiTimes, which reported that Quanta Computer has already been given the order to start producing the new device.
On March 26, rumours emerged that Taiwanese chassis manufacturer Catcher had received an order from Amazon for a new tablet.
According to China Times, the first batch of tablets, estimated at 2 million units, could have started shipping on August 7. Now we know that's closer to September or later in the year.
The just-outside Los Angeles soiree could be for any number of things, but industry insiders anticipate a big announcement to echo through the hangar's halls.
More fuel was added to the Kindle Fire 2 release date flames with the announcement on Aug. 30 that the original Kindle Fire has sold out. When Amazon made this announcement it added that it had "an exciting roadmap ahead", adding "we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem."
On the same day, a purported spy shot of the Kindle Fire 2 leaked, showing an all black device and not much else.
Kindle Touch review
Kindle Keyboard review
Kindle Fire review
Kindle Fire 2 price
Rumours suggest the new Kindle Fire will be priced at the same level as the current Kindle Fire, $199 (converted this is around £130). Some reports suggest the 10.1-inch 'HD' Kindle Fire could mean the older model drops to $149.
The Kindle Fire 2 screen will be bigger
The Telegraph - and many others - predicts a Kindle Fire 2 vs new iPad summertime tablet fight-fest based entirely on a single post by the not-always-that-accurate DigiTimes, which says that the Kindle Fire 2 will have an 8.9-inch touch screen and will begin manufacturing in the first quarter of 2012.
That may well be true, but Digitimes also reports that the Kindle Fire 2 screen will be 9.7 inches, or maybe 10.1 inches. Perhaps the Kindle Fire 2 is made from potatoes and powered by clockwork elves.
Further rumours in early March and again in June 2012 suggested that the Amazon Kindle Fire 2 will land in both 8.9-inch and 10-inch flavours.
An analyst writing in February predicted a 9-inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, as well as a refreshed 7-inch model by the middle of 2012.
Chad Bartley of Pacific Crest has increased his Kindle Fire 2012 sales estimate from 12 million units to 14.9 miilion units, partly due to the expected new models.
"We are raising our 2012 sales forecasts to 14.9 million from 12.7 million," he wrote in a note to investors.
"But we believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7 and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012."
New rumours in March also pointed towards three different Kindle Fire 2 variants. However, China Times claimed in early July that the Kindle Fire 2 will pack a 7-inch display.
UPDATE: On Sept. 5, with just a day to go before the Kindle 2 launch, Amazon teased the new tablet in a TV ad. The ad revealed "something new", which looks to be a 10-inch model of the Kindle Fire and another Kindle.
The Kindle Fire 2 processor is a quad-core Tegra
That's what Boy Genius Report predicted back in May, anyway: Amazon was "planning on releasing at least two before the end of the year. The smaller 7-inch model could well be based on Nvidia's Kai tablet strategy, which will see $199 Tegra tablets become the norm.
The bigger 10.1-inch Kindle Fire 2 is reportedly codenamed 'Hollywood' and will be based on the Nvidia Tegra 3 which will bring a screaming quad-core processor with a 500% performance increase".
That would come in handy, as some reviews have pointed out that the current Fire is a bit slow, but if it's coming there's no way you're getting it for $200. Amazon may be losing money on every Kindle Fire, but there's losing money and there's losing enormous amounts of money.
The Kindle Fire 2 is the real Kindle Fire
Speaking to Gdgt, a "source" claimed that the Kindle Fire 2 is the tablet Amazon really wanted to make, but couldn't get out in time for the pre-Christmas shopping period. In June it was revealed the Amazon Appstore is also going international in preparation.
The Kindle Fire 2 operating system is Android, sort of
As with the first Fire, the Kindle Fire 2 should run Amazon's own fork of Android, which adds a nifty interface to Google's OS. Expect integration with the Amazon app store and services rather than Android market and Google books.
An early March source also claimed that Amazon has reduced its E Ink orders (the fancy screen technology found on Kindle e-readers).
The Kindle Fire 2 display won't be a hybrid
A hybrid e-ink/LCD screen is one for our Kindle Fire 2 wish list, although we don't expect to see it on the next Kindle Fire.
The Kindle Fire 2 specifications might include some missing features
There are some obvious omissions from the current Kindle Fire - GPS, a microphone, cameras - but we're not sure the Kindle Fire 2 needs them: if it wants to be an iPad rival then yes, such things are important, but they're not necessarily deal-breakers for sofa surfing.
Both new Kindle Fire tablets will reportedly be of higher-quality materials and more ergonomic designs.
A BGR source also says that Amazon's new Kindle Fire 2 tablets will be thinner and more similar in appearance to the first-generation Apple iPad, but without any buttons on the front.
In addition, the 10-inch Kindle Fire will house a front-facing camera, and both new tablets will include microUSB ports and, possibly, HDMI-out jacks, says the report.
Software-wise, news broke on Aug. 31 that Amazon is planning to go with Nokia's mapping service instead of Google's on the new Kindle. But that could be a short-lived affair: the same report says that Amazon is only siding with Nokia until it unveils its own in-house solution, which it's believed to have been working on since it purchased 3D mappers UpNext in July.
The Kindle Fire 2 name might not be Kindle Fire 2
If a launch is imminent, Amazon won't want to annoy existing Kindle Fire customers by suggesting their shiny new tablet is already obsolete. It'll be called something different, such as Kindle Burny. OK, probably not Burny.
Kindle Fire phone
Will there be a Kindle Fire phone? Some reports have claimed that Amazon is currently developing a smartphone in the hope of replicating the success of the Kindle Fire.
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