It’s official. After a few unintentional leaks and some social media teases, Kobo has started accepting orders for a new white Kobo Clara Colour that’s getting released on September 23rd, 2025.
At $159, it’s the same price as the black Kobo Clara Colour that was released in April of 2024. It’s still the least expensive color ereader on the market, but the new Bigme B6 is only $10 more and it has several hardware upgrades and an open Android OS; the Clara Colour has more competition now than it did a year ago.
The new white Kobo Clara Colour is basically exactly the same as the original Clara Colour, but there is one minor difference.
On Kobo’s website, the specs say the white version has a 1900 mAh battery and the black version has a 1500 mAh battery. But I don’t think that is accurate anymore. The iFixit website says the latest revision of the Clara Colour with model number N367B has a 1900 mAh battery. It sounds like the newer black models also have the larger battery (iFixit would know since they’re the ones selling replacement batteries).
Outside of that, it’s still the same device, just with a white outer casing instead of black. It still has the same 6″ Kaleido 3 screen from E Ink, with 300 ppi for black and white and 150 ppi for color.
I’ll admit, the new white Kobo Clara Colour does look sharp, but I don’t think it’s going to move the needle for most people. If someone wanted a white Kobo with a color screen they could get the Kobo Libra Colour in white. Kobo has been selling a white version of it since it was released in April of last year.
Kobo’s recent moves make it seem like they’re kind of clueless on what people really want. Ever since they discontinued the Kobo Libra 2, people have been asking for a new Libra with a black and white screen, but it’s been a year and a half now and Kobo still refuses to listen to customers. They seem intent on pushing color E Ink when a lot of people just want a nice black and white ereader.
When Kobo was teasing this new white Kobo Clara Colour on social media they were saying this is “something you have been waiting for”, and they were making it seem like the #1 customer request was a white Clara Colour.
I don’t remember ever hearing a single person saying they wished the Kobo Clara Colour was available in white. Whenever I post a new Kobo speculation article, everyone is asking for a Kobo Libra BW or a new Sage. And a few want a new Elipsa. But I’ve never seen a single request for a white Kobo Clara Colour.
Nonetheless, the new white Kobo Clara Colour is available to order now from Amazon and Kobo’s various regional websites.
I had been hoping for the Mini or an updated symmetrical device – no page turn buttons.
I think this is a great addition and it will for sure be my daughter’s first ereader. The black one is ugly, but this one looks great. It’s great to see what something as seemingly minor can do. When you look at Reddit, YouTube and social, pretty much everyone who buys Libra Colour chooses the white version, you can hardly ever spot the black one. So this only makes sense. But yes, I do wish they made new Libra BW (in white). I would upgrade in a heartbeat.
From Kobo’s viewpoint, a Clara makes some sense, cheaper devices always sell units.
That said, FMPOV, I would prioritize:
Libra black and white…so many similar parts…economy of scale and fairly inexpensive
Ellipsa 2 black and white and/or color…for those interested in a limited note device/e reader
Sage 2…for me slightly larger…8.5 to 9 inches
Nothing wrong with the Clara, but if that is all they do….yikes!
Kobo is losing the battle on storage, too. Some of the earlier Kobo readers had expandable storage. The much-beloved Clara HD wasn’t designed to be expandable, but it was simple to replace the micro SD card. And now the new Claras have 16GB of non-upgradeable memory. The Libras are at 32GB, also non-upgradeable.
Meanwhile, the competition seem to be starting at 32GB on their low-end devices and many, if not most, have an SD slot.
But at least we can get a white Clara now.
Very avid readers with big collection will usually fill couple of gigs, most people probably only tens or hundreds of megabytes (read discussions on Reddit, many people only download books they are currently reading). And Clara is the basic reader. I doubt it’s a deal breaker for many. I wouldn’t care if it was still 8GB, it would be more than enough.
The base models of the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Colorsoft, and the Kindle Scribe all come with 16 GB. None of the Kindles have an SD slot.
Just rambling here, but sometimes I wish someone would invent some sort of changable film overlay with designs or colors. I might get one that makes the bezel look like a slightly-foxed manuscript page.
OK, back to the acutal topic.
I used to review DecalGirl skins on occasion. It’s looks like they have a bunch of Kobo skins with different designs.
Well, I’ll be. They even have 49 pages of Kindle skins. Skins for just about every electronic gadget.
So, for the year 2025 this is what we got. The dozenth iteration of the same model.
Since 2021, no Kobo has come out that would be worthwhile for me. I really like my Libra 2 and I plan to use it for a very long time, although it has the hardware of the Forma from 2018. Maybe because of the upcoming 2027 EU law, kobo is planning something bigger? Hopefully.
This is excellent. I so researched this topic on another site that provides actual information, and this is absolutely wonderful. So the real story is, the previous batteries used no longer exist. So, Kobo took existing stock and ‘upgraded’ the batteries with matching form factor batteries that just happen to have more capacity. The reason the white and black models have slightly different batteries is simple, the black models made after a few months ago have the increased capacity, and so will the new white models, while backstock of existing black clara models use the previous batteries.
As for why the push to color, simple, production runs are expensive, and black and white e-ink displays are being phased out by the few factories producing them.
As for who is asking for white models: women. Women make up the majority of mobile reader customers, and a quick look at reddit, youtube, and tiktok on e-readers shows and endless parade of pictures and video reviews with a white model in a flimsy clear case with a TON of stickers and paint. That’s it. Women are the majority of the e-reader customer base, and they love white plastic and clear cases to show off their girl-power stickers and romantasy stickers.