Amazon has finally started accepting orders for the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and the new black and white Kindle Scribe after making people wait over 10 weeks since announcing them.
Both are shipping now from Amazon.com, except the red (fig) 64GB version of the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft isn’t getting released until sometime in January. They’re still unavailable from Amazon’s other regional websites, as they aren’t expected to arrive outside the US until 2026.
It’s good to see the new Kindle Scribes are eligible for Amazon’s trade-in discount so you can get 20% off when trading in an old Kindle, even if it’s broken and doesn’t work. Since the new Kindle Scribes are a lot more expensive than the previous gen models that helps make the price seem more reasonable.
For instance, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft costs $629.99 for the 32GB model, and it’s $679.99 for the 64GB version. With the trade-in discount, that takes the price down to $503.99 for the 32GB model and $543.99 for 64GB.
The new BW Kindle Scribe sells for $499.99 with 32GB and $549.99 with 64GB. With a trade-in, that takes the price down to $399.99 and $439.99 respectively.
The new Kindle Scribe without a frontlight still isn’t available to purchase yet. Amazon said that it would be coming out in early 2026, and they still haven’t given an exact release date for it yet.
With the prices being so much higher than previous gen Kindle Scribes you have to wonder how many people are actually going to be interested in buying these. The older Kindle Scribes already weren’t selling anywhere close to as well as other Kindle models, and a lot of people seem to not trust Amazon when it comes to not spying on personal and sensitive information when syncing and storing notebooks.
I really don’t see how Amazon expects these new models to suddenly be more popular than the previous Kindle Scribes. They increased the screen size from 10.2″ to 11″, and they added a supposedly faster processor, but how much of a difference is that really going to make?
I don’t recall seeing a lot of complaints about the Kindle Scribe’s screen being too small or the processor being too slow. Most of the complaints are about the software being too limited. They are adding some new software features to the new models, including some more AI tools and support for Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, but is that going to be enough to justify a price that’s higher than something much more versatile like a 128GB iPad Air?
The Scribe 1 eventually got the new AI features that the Scribe 2 came bundled with. I’m sure the older Scribes will get the same with an update soon.
The only way I would purchase a Scribe 3 is if I could jailbreak the Scribe Colorsoft to open CBR files, and even then I would wait for a sale with a deep discount and hope a 20% trade-in. I’d probably still pay $400-something USD but it’s better then the retail price.