Ever since Amazon announced the new lineup of Kindles yesterday, I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints about how expensive they are, especially compared to the previous lineup.
I think a lot of people missed the news back in August when Amazon increased the prices of Kindles by $40-$50 each, and in some cases people are comparing old sale prices with the new retail prices, and they’re shocked by the difference.
Kindles used to always be cheaper than other brands, and that’s still often the case when they’re on sale, but Kindles definitely aren’t as affordable as they used to be, and the price of covers and accessories has steadily increased as well.
Here’s how the prices of the new Kindles compare to the previous gen models before the price increase in August 2026. I also included the Prime Day Price (PDP) for each previous gen model from the most recent Prime Day sale back in June (that was peak Kindle buying time, in retrospect).
Kindle 2024 – $109.99 (PDP $84.99).
Kindle 2026 – $149.99 ($189 with aluminum back and double the storage space).
Kindle Paperwhite 6 – $159.99 (PDP $124.99)
Kindle Paperwhite 7 – $199.99
Kindle Paperwhite 6 SE – $199.99 (PDP $144.99)
Kindle Paperwhite 7 SE – $249.99
Kindle Colorsoft 1 – $249.99 (PDP $159.99)
Kindle Colorsoft 2 – $289.99
Kindle Colorsoft 1 SE – $279.99 (PDP $219.99)
Kindle Colorsoft 2 SE – $319.99
Amazon also finally released a remote page turner called the Kindle Click, but at $34.99 it’s more expensive than other Bluetooth page turners. Cheaper options should work too (TBD), but Amazon was smart to add brightness controls and a sleep button to their remote, something other remotes don’t offer.
The prices of electronics has gone up across the board with rising RAM and hardware costs, and that’s the excuse being used for Kindles too. But that doesn’t explain the sudden increase in the cost of Kindle covers (they must be using some expensive magnets!). Check this out:
Previous Gen Paperwhite/Colorsoft fabric case – $36.99
New Paperwhite/Colorsoft fabric case – $44.99
Previous Gen Paperwhite/Colorsoft plant-based leather case – $42.99
New Paperwhite/Colorsoft plant-based leather case – $54.99 – (The Page Turn Cover with buttons is $79.99).
Previous Gen Paperwhite/Colorsoft premium leather case – $64.99
New Paperwhite/Colorsoft premium leather case – $69.99
Previous Gen Wireless Charging Dock – $44.99
New Magnetic Pogo Pin Charging Dock – $59.99
So yeah, the prices of Kindles and accessories has gone up a lot over the past few months. You can still get 20% off with trade-ins so that helps some, and you can stack that discount with sale prices, but it’ll probably be a while before the new models go on sale, especially since the new Paperwhite and Colorsoft aren’t getting released until the end of October. But Amazon will probably have big discounts on the previous gen models for Prime Day next week and Black Friday next month.
Amazon cases have always been more expensive. But in addition to the chip prices going up in general, now we have the added price increase of fuel costs. And in the USA you have an additional terrif added to items from China and other countries. The wars around the world are probably not helping either. If anything, it gives companies reasons to increase prices in general.
Blame Donald Trump. and don’t forget to vote.
I will be waiting to see what type of deals they offer on Black Friday. Or another option is to wait until prime days next June or July.
I will be trading my SE which will save about $50 off of the new Paperwhite SE. I don’t have any interest in the colorsoft.
I’m mostly just interested in getting the page turn clicker. The cases I have should fit the new SE.
Losing the wireless charging is OK, but I do like the table top stand that the wireless charger provides, I display the current book I’m reading.
So during Black Friday we will see what they offer, most likely bundles.
Even though it’s super expensive, I’m really happy about that page turn cover. It’s a very cool idea, hopefully there will be better and cheaper clones / copies from China. Other brands should copy Amazon’s idea, as Amazon did with the Kobo page turner. If they copy from each other for the reader’s benefit, that’s very welcome.
I’m not sure. Just looking at pictures and reading product details, the new line-up of Kindles appear to be more durable and high end than previous models, especially with the sharp flush screens and aluminum casing compared to plastic and a recessed screen. I would assume that both of those things would cost more to resource raw materials and to make, with or without the tariffs. Current events are probably also increasing prices for other components as well because electronics generally depends on a global supply chain. I’m not surprised that costs for the Kindle went up overall. Do I love how much they went up by? No. But I do like the overall hardware and convenience and variety of the Amazon ecosystem, so I’ll continue on with it and skip the next couple of generations of kindle gadgets (unless they come out with an ereader that has page turn buttons again).
Sharp flush screen is nonsense. Flush means you have the screen covered by additional thick layer of plastic (that’s the only difference) which makes it less sharp and quite blurry. Just imagine if you put thick layer of plastic over book page you’re reading… It definitely won’t be sharper 🙂 It’s a massive downgrade. People just don’t realize it because they usually don’t have both side by side.
I had my Oasis, Kindle Basic 2024, and 2024 Kindle Scribe side by side, The Scribe’s screen is very sharp, especially in comparison to the Oasis, and was slightly sharper than the Basic. One of the advantages of a flush screen for me, was the lack of shadows coming off the side, which was a distraction for me while reading. I will grant you that a lot of that has to with perception, and up to the individual.
I have Basic 2024, Paperwhite 4, 5, 6, Oasis 3, Colorsoft and Scribe 2022. Basic has hands down the sharpest screen (still not as sharp as for example Kobo Libra 2 though), all the other ones are blurry. I’m used to it at this point but flush always makes the screen worse, that’s not about perception, but physics. When you put a thick layer of plastic over the screen it will always lower the contrast. Scribe is slightly better because the additional layer is glass, but definitely not great.
But what you see is still perception. I am not looking at image heavy books or documents–I’m mostly seeing words with the occasional photograph here and there. Having a piece of hardware that throws shadows onto what I am reading, especially when outside means that the quality of reading is less for me. For me, the Scribe 2023 (sorry, I got it in 2024 so I miswrote the generation) is as sharp as the basic, with the added bonus of not having to deal with shadows in the middle of the text. What you consider worse, a lot of people consider negligible because they don’t see it, and even if they do see minute differences it is negligible enough for them to ignore and go with what physical build they prefer.
I’m not debating the physics of your point, just pointing out what people, including myself, perceive. The original point is that a flush screen, to a lot of people, appears to be a more high-end, more durable Kindle, especially with an aluminum rather than plastic backing, and are therefore, willing to pay for that perception.
The kindle cliker also has side buttons to adjust the backlight which is a huge plus, and will work will any models after 2024, of course check you current model to confirm
If you find the prices too expensive, then don’t buy the products. When most people don’t buy the new products they prices will be reduced. It’s just capitalism and supply and demand.
But I doubt that most people find these gadgets too expensive and won’t buy them.
Since I don’t like the closed Kindle system I won’t buy one anyway.
My 2024 kindle PaperWhite SE has automatically been updated to 5.20.1. When I go to Amazon help and search for Kindle software updates all it shows is 5.19.6
Does anyone know what is going on?
That’s the same software version that’s on the new Kindles, and I’ve yet to find anything new or different about it. They’ll probably update the software page in a day or two.
My PaperWhite SE 2014 automatically got it. My ColorSoft didn’t and the website still shows the same as my ColorSoft
Yes, I think they are. The previous models are as well, especially the basic & the paperwhite – wrong those were jacked up prior to the new releases – Greed.
I have decided that I don’t need to have two Kindles. So I have started the process to trade in both my PaperWhite and ColorSoft and pre-order the new ColorSoft. I choose a bundle so I save some money over buying each item separately. I never thought I would like the ColorSoft over the PaperWhite but I am finding I no longer read on my PaperWhite. This morning I went on Amazon and cleaned up my devices that I no long have or use. And I edited my email addresses that my devices use.