Amazon sets sights on Samsung's The Frame with all-new Ember Artline 4K telly that transforms into artwork

Samsung faces more competition than ever before. A few months after **LG announced plans ** to launch its own 4K television that can double up as a work of art, Amazon just opened preorders for its own version of the same idea.

Known as Lifestyle TVs, Samsung popularised the idea with its bestselling The Frame lineup. In a nutshell: rather than an unsightly black rectangle on the wall when your television isn't in use, these clever gadgets transform the screen into an enormous photo frame or painting.

Given that televisions are often the most prominent piece of technology in a living room, yet can be an eyesore for most of the day, Amazon's new Ember Artline is the latest 4K TV designed to solve that headache.

Be one of the first to own the new Ember Artline TV from Amazon

Amazon's new Ember Artline is the first all-in-one Fire TV from the brand that doubles-up as a piece of art or photo frame when it's not in use. It's designed to remove the unsightly black rectangle from your living room when you're not watching television, something that Samsung popularised with its The Frame lineup.These 4K QLED TVs support Alexa+ and thousands of streaming services

To do that, Amazon has fitted its Ember television with a matte display to eliminate glare. That should make watching telly during the day much more comfortable, but it also goes a long way toward selling the idea that this flatscreen is a piece of artwork when not in use. Another way to ensure the illusion isn't broken, Amazon has designed a slimline wall-mount that keeps the television as flush as possible with the wall.

For those who want to fit the Ember Artline — available in either 55" or 65" screen sizes — to an existing mount or one that can pivot, there are optional VESA mount fittings built into the back of the flatscreen too. Amazon includes a cardboard mounting guide with idiot-proof instructions on where you'll need to drill to fit everything to the wall. The retailer doesn't currently offer to mount it for you for an extra charge.

Amazon's Ember Artline is available in 10 frame colours, which you'll be able to pick at checkout on Amazon.co.uk. There's no additional cost for any of these options, which span the likes of Walnut, Ash, Fig, Gold, Silver, Teak, and Black Oak, to name just a few. You should be able to find something to match the décor in your chosen room, and any existing frames on the wall.

Out of the box, Ember Artline includes more than 2,000 curated pieces of artwork that can be displayed on-screen at no extra cost. Amazon says it has no plans to launch a subscription service to charge Fire TV owners to access these works of art, something Samsung does for its counterpart The Frame range.

Whatever your taste, you should be able to find something in Amazon's collection, which spans artistic movements and includes Impressionist classics by Monet, Degas, and Renoir, alongside contemporary works of street art, murals, and photography. The Seattle-based firm has also worked with documentary filmmaker Sam Nuttmann, who travelled the world capturing landscape and wildlife scenes to produce 60 exclusive motion video pieces. These play out like screensavers, with slow camera movements to showcase the natural world.

Unsure where to start? Ember Artline ships with a clever new Artificial Intelligence (AI) feature called Match the Room.

Upload a photo of the room with the Ember Artline television, and AI will suggest artwork from the collection based on colours, interior décor, and recurring themes in the existing artwork in your space to find the perfect match.

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Lastly, Amazon Ember Artline is tightly integrated with Amazon Photos, so you'll be able to load any images stored in this cloud backup solution with a few taps.

Prime members enjoy unlimited photo backup to Amazon Photos as one of the perks of the £95-a-year loyalty scheme.

Amazon has separated all of the above options into a new Art & Photos tab in the redesigned FireOS software , which is rolling out to millions of viewers across the UK and rest of the globe right now. Amazon has branded this free upgrade as its "biggest ever", with speedier performance for existing devices and new sections to spotlight coming live sports and more favourite apps for faster access to your streamer of choice.

What about when you switch on the telly?

The all-new Amazon Ember Artline boasts a 4K QLED panel with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ picture standards — perfect for your next boxset binge or movie night. For those who want to plug in an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, be warned, there's no support for 120Hz refresh rate for gaming on the Ember Artline, something you'll find on the Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series, which starts from £899.

Streaming is handled via Wi-Fi 6, which should provide a more stable connection, especially in homes with lots of devices connected to the same network. On the back, Amazon has equipped its Ember Artline with three HDMI 2.0 and one HDMI eARC 2.1 port.

There are also deep grooves in the plastic on the rear of this flatscreen to route your cables for a tidy set-up, especially handy when the television is mounted on the wall to avoid any HDMI cables dangling down.

Like its bestselling Echo speakers, Amazon has equipped its Lifestyle television with far-field microphones, so you can switch on the TV from the other side of the room, pause your show, change channels, launch a new streaming app, search for a sports fixture, and much more, all with a voice command that uses the wake word "Alexa...".

For those who constantly misplace their remote control down the back of the sofa, this feature could be a real lifesaver. Like the rest of the lineup, Alexa+ is supported on the Ember Artline, so you can tap into ChatGPT-like powers to naturally find new shows or movies to watch, manage and control your smart home devices, or deep-dive into virtually any general knowledge topic.

Amazon's Omnisense technology, which made its debut in the £849 Fire TV Omni Mini-LED series that tops out at an eye-watering £1,599 — making it the most expensive Fire TV that you can buy from Amazon today , is also present in the new Amazon Ember Artline. This relies on a variety of sensors to detect when someone is in the room.

Using this feature, Amazon will automatically enable its Ambient Experience on and off when people enter or leave the room to conserve power. As you wander into the room, your chosen artwork will be displayed on-screen.

From your perspective, it should seem like the large screen in your living room is always showcasing your favourite piece of artwork, but for the sake of your electricity bill, this will only be the case when someone is around to see the painting. Clever stuff.

Amazon Ember Artline is available to preorder today, with prices starting from £949.99 for the 55" model , rising to £1,199 for the 65" variant. The first televisions will start shipping to customers on May 7, 2026.

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