Amazon revealed a new lineup of Kindles today, with a new basic model, a new Paperwhite and a new Colorsoft. They’re also releasing an official remote page-turner for Kindles, along with a new cover for the Paperwhite SE and Colorsoft SE that adds physical page-turn buttons to the cover.
The new 6″ Kindle is available to order now. There are two different versions, one with 16GB of storage and one with 32GB of storage. The latter adds an aluminum back so it should be the nicest entry-level Kindle yet, and it also doesn’t have ads by default. They added a flush front screen to this model, but it still lacks a warm frontlight and waterproofing. The base model is $149 and the 32GB aluminum version is $189.
The new Kindle Paperwhite is thinner and lighter than the previous gen model, and Amazon claims it has the highest contrast of any Kindle—they’re using a newly designed reverse stack display construction. The Signature Edition adds an aluminum back, pogo pins for dock charging, an auto-brightness sensor, and 32GB of storage. The base model is $199 and the SE costs $249.
The new Kindle Colorsoft has a 7″ color E Ink screen like the previous model, but Amazon claims the new Colorsoft has a “completely redesigned display”. Here’s a quote from the press release:
To achieve paper-like color, our Kindle Colorsoft display includes a light-guide with nitride LEDs to enhance color and increase brightness, all without washing out the details. It uses an oxide backplane with custom waveforms for fast performance and a higher contrast on both color and black-and-white content. Our latest Kindle Colorsoft has a completely redesigned display, using the reverse printing technology we applied across the lineup for edge-to-edge color. The light guide contains micro-deflectors that minimize stray light and improve uniformity, and an ultra-thin optical coating in the display stack improves clarity.
The new Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Colorsoft are available to pre-order now, and the release date for both is October 28th. The new basic Kindle is shipping today. Amazon says it is available in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Australia.
Amazon is also releasing some new Kindle accessories, including a new Bluetooth remote page-turner called Kindle Click. It looks like they’re adding support for previous gen Kindles too because it says it works with all Kindles released in 2024 and onward.
There’s a new Page Turn Cover for the SE Paperwhite and SE Colorsoft that adds physical page-turn buttons. At $79.99 the case is pricey, but it looks like a cool idea for those that want page buttons, and maybe some cheaper third-party options will come along later.
Another interesting detail, it appears these new Kindles have user replaceable batteries. Amazon doesn’t mention that on the product pages or in the press release, but I noticed on the Identify Your Kindle page at Amazon it says “User-replaceable battery (EBR-compliant)” under the description for the new Kindles.
Amazon has released new Kids Kindles for each model too, but it looks like they did away with the upgraded warranty so they just come with a standard warranty now. The only difference from a regular Kindle is they include a cover and they come with a 1-year subscription to Kids+. You’re basically just paying $30 extra for a cover and a subscription at this point. They used to come with better warranties and ad-free upgrades, but those days are over.
I love the look of the new bodies, the lack of wireless charging makes sense but is disappointing as I used it a lot. Also, I hear rumors they dropped the waterproofing? Why? Lame af.
The page turn case is interesting and I would try it but what I really like is the store pages claim these models are going back to magnetic cases ala the Voyage. I’ve been wanting that for a while.
But I don’t know if I believe them about any significant upgrade in the color screen and a little bit more “clarity” whatever that means isn’t enough even with everything else to justify the price. For a guy who has the 1st gen Colorsoft, this isn’t worth the price to upgrade at all.
Which is fine but the magnetic cases leave me excited for 2-4 generations from now when I upgrade again.
I did pick up the Kindle Click. Supposedly my Colorsoft will work with it so I’ll see what all the hype is about.
According to the paperwhite se page they’re still waterproof
Yeah, and I noticed the new Page Turn Cover for the Signature Editions is waterproof as well.
Oh maybe it is waterproof then. I admit I didn’t look at the listings that closely. Just saw a comment on reddit. Hence me calling it a rumor.
Still, not at those prices. Ouch.
Magnetic case? Do you mean metallic case?
Magnetic case. A case that attaches to the Kindle via magnets only.
Thank you. I was thrown off by the mention of the Voyage having a magnetic case. I own one, and it does not have a magnetic case.
I have a magnetic case on my Voyage, or I’ve lost the conversation. 🙂
My Voyage has a magnetic case.
As far as I know, whether the Voyage has a magnetic case is entirely down to whether or not you bought a magnetic case to put it in.
Cover gets a big nope from me with buttons on the right.
You do realize you can just flip the reader upside down and have it on the left though?
Yes. Alexa said the new Signature will allow you to “flip” the reader. I have a 2024 Signature, and it does not allow this. The Scribe does.
I think they should either drop the “Paperwhite” Moniker…. and just make that the Base model. Then make the “Signature” the Next Tier, then Colorsoft, Scribe, etc….
….But,…. then you lose the 6 in model. I don’t know…. it’s just that, having a “Base Model” that is from $150 – $190, without the Warm Light is dumb.
I fully admit to trading in my Oasis for the new Paperwhite SE and case. Why, even though the Oasis was a great design and had the buttons? Because my Oasis doesn’t hold a charge for more than a day, and there is a clear contrast in screen clarity with even my Kindle Basic. That and the basic was not an option for trade-in. To be honest, my Oasis has gotten very little use in the past two years because of the charging issue; I’d rather trade that in for a model that won’t be laying around in a drawer. I also really like the concept of a Kindle case with page turn buttons and want to try that out.
I did the same with my Oasis as well with the trade in for a newer Kindle model, it was a shame because the Oasis with the warm light had the best screen on the E-Reader market, the words was super sharp and the turn buttons was so useful, I hope in the future Amazon will bring out a new version of the Kindle Oasis with a Color Screen just like the Colorsoft.
I gotta admit that I quite like these. I hated the cheap feel of current gen Paperwhite/Colorsoft and I loved the aluminum back of my Oasis. This finally seems premium enough to get my interest. I also like that the power button is on the right. And that the case finally attaches magnetically so I could take the Kindle out of it easily when at home.
Unfortunately I won’t buy one. I like the size and blue color of Basic but lack of IP68 is a deal breaker. Paperwhite is too big and I don’t like black or green.
So once again they don’t have anything for me 😃
Also do I get it right that they got rid of USB-C? If so that would be a huge issue.
How did you get the idea that they got rid of the USB-C charge port?
I now know they didn’t but I thought they did the same thing as Xteink which replaced usb-c with pins on the back for charging. And Amazon mentions the pins everywhere but usb-c nowhere so it seemed like it. But then I realized they have to have usb-c because of the EU law, so all is good.
Ugh. It appears the the page turner cover only fits the 2026 model. I would habe to buy a new kindle and new cover to get the page turns on the side. A little expensive.
I haven’t fully decided but I am thinking about doing a trade of both my PaperWhite SE and ColorSoft for the ColorSoft SE. But I will wait and see how the reviews look. It will be a tough decision seeing how much I have come to enjoy the ColorSoft that I have.
You can only do one trade-in per quarter and they’d only give you a $30 credit for the Paperwhite SE so you’d be better off just trading one and selling the other used somewhere.
Meanwhile … is B & N ever going to release a new ereader? I thought they had hinted at a new one this year. Or was that just their old model with a new color shell?