Pocketbook is adding a new trimmed-down entry-level version to their Verse line called the Verse Lite that basically removes all the distinguishing features from the regular Verse model in order to hit a lower price point.
The PocketBook Verse Lite is now the 4th different Verse model among Pocketbook’s current offerings, so things are starting to get confusing. As far as I can tell, they took the regular Pocketbook Verse and stripped it to the bone to bring the price down. At $139, the regular PocketBook Verse isn’t that expensive to begin with, so I’m not sure a bunch of downgrades are worth it.
The Verse Lite is about as basic is it gets in 2025. Compared to the regular Verse, they removed the page buttons, the warm light, the rotation sensor, the microSD card slot, and the battery is 33% smaller.
The Verse Lite has a 6″ E Ink Carta screen with 212 ppi (I think Pocketbook is the only company still using these outdated lower resolution screens), and it has a frontlight but without temperature control.
It uses a dual-core 1GHz CPU, with 512MB of RAM. There’s 8GB of internal storage space, and it supports cloud storage as well through Pocketbook and Dropbox. It supports WiFi, but there’s no mention of Bluetooth or audio support or text-to-speech like the Verse Pro, and it’s not waterproof either.
The Verse Lite has a capacitive touchscreen and a USB-C port. The dimensions are 108 x 156 x 7.6mm and the weight is listed at 170 grams. It has a 1000 mAh battery instead of the 1500 mAh battery like the other Verse models (except the Verse Color, which has a 2100 mAh battery). The video says the battery can last up to 2 months, but their website says 1 month.
It runs Pocketbook’s Linux-based software (not Android like some models) and it supports a wide range of common ebook formats, including Adobe EPUB and LCP DRM.
So far Pocketbook isn’t showing a price so that still remains to be seen. There’s a listing for the PocketBook Verse Lite on Amazon, but it’s not available to order from Pocketbook yet; a third-party seller has it listed for $149, but it will surely sell for less than that from Pocketbook considering the regular Verse is going for $139. Pocketbook’s previous basic model sold for $109 and it had page buttons and a memory card slot, so this model doesn’t really have any upgrades over it and it’s actually a downgrade in some ways.
I guess they have huge piles of 212 ppi no warm light screens and this is the solution to sell them all. Well eventually kobo also sold out their similiar Nia model.