Last week Amazon unveiled several new Echo devices, and earlier in the month they announced a new Fire HD 8 tablet with hands-free Alexa support that’s getting released on October 4th, but so far there’s been no indication of any new Kindles coming out later this year.
If Amazon is going to release a new Kindle, they will almost certainly have to announce it within the next few weeks.
Last year Amazon first announced the new Kindle Oasis 2 on October 11th, at which point they started accepting pre-orders for an October 31st release date.
Amazon is always big on the pre-order step when releasing new products, so you have to expect at least 2-4 weeks for that.
This year Black Friday is on November 23rd. If they’re going to release a new Kindle it will need to be out at least one week before then, like the new Alexa microwave that was just announced last week that gets released on November 14th.
Anything past that date doesn’t make sense if they want to capitalize on selling them during the busiest shopping time of year.
So if a new Kindle isn’t announced by the end of October it’s not going to happen.
Quite frankly it appears very unlikely that Amazon will release any new Kindles this year. E Ink, the company that makes Kindle screens, has told investors they expect sales of ereader displays to be down in 2018, and that they don’t expect the market to pickup again until 2019. So unless Amazon is somehow not paying for new Kindle screens until next year, I don’t see any new Kindles getting announced in 2018.
Why can’t Amazon be like Apple and be consistent with their Kindle releases. Why can’t they just announce a new Kindle on prime day every year or every two years? What’s so hard about that? I don’t understand why they have to complicate the process and be so inconsistent with their releases. It’s stupid.
It seems like Amazon has grown bored with Kindles. New Kindle releases used to be a big event back when they released them more regularly. Over the past few years most of their focus has shifted to Alexa so that gets all the hype and fanfare now and even when they do release new Kindles they just throw up a new page and start taking pre-orders without making a big deal about it.
You’re right all the hype is Alexa nowadays and kindles have taken a backseat. But still, why can’t they be consistent with Kindle releases? It just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Much as I like my Kindle I’m starting to really wish that Amazon would stop half assing their iOS and Android apps so I could just switch to using my phone and have Goodreads integration there. The rate at which they update their mobile apps is a joke given the size of the company. You have to think that they have undersized team working on them.
I still expect that we will get at least one new unit. Amazon dances to it’s own beat and does not telegraph new units in patterns that are easy to see…example, a 7″ screen when no one else had one. I would not rely on E ink order predictions.
Amazon has several options open:
Larger screen unit
Color temperature control on existing unit updates
Paperwhite update
A higher resolution unit…the tech is available
I agree that the time window of a possible new unit is now.
I know, and I’m getting bummed. I have been really, really hoping for an updated Paperwhite or Voyage merge of some kind this year.
Looked back the previous Kindle releases.
1st Gen Basic Kindle – 11/2007
Kindle 2 – 2/2009
Kindle DX – May 2009
Kindle DX Graphite – July 2010
Kindle Keyboard – Jul 2010
4th Gen Kindle and Kindle Touch – September 2011
Kindle Touch Updated – March 2012
Kindle 5 – Sept 2012
1st Paperwhite – September 2012
2nd Gen Paperwhite – September 2013
Kindle 7 – September 2014
Kindle Voyage – November 2014
Paperwhite 3 – June 2015
Oasis 1st – April 2016
Kindle 8 – June 2016
Oasis 2nd – October 31 2017
So….looks like it’s all over the place to me and it’s impossible to give a complete deadline. They’ve never released in December or January, though.
Precisely, it’s an absolute mess. No consistency whatsoever
Unfortunately true.
PS. I just asked Siri if I could call her Alexa and she said “No, I’m Siri and Siri I shall remain.”
They gotta sell all of those .7 Cu. ft, 700 watt microwaves first!
Actually I’m waiting for the Alexa bidet/toilet.
“Alexa, wipe my …..”
“E Ink, the company that makes Kindle screens, has told investors they expect sales of ereader displays to be down in 2018, and that they don’t expect the market to pickup again until 2019.”
If we get a new Kindle and sales take off, someone at E Ink gets credit for pulling a rabbit out of his hat and a big fat raise.
what’s the scoop on the new kobo coming out oct 16th?
Kobo Forma??
Major change of direction from Aura One…Oasis clone
Kindles don’t develop at such a rate where you need have a new release at the same time every year. I love my Oasis 9th gen and it’s hard to see what they could do to,improve it
I agree, there’s no consistency in release dates for any of the multitudinous kindles. I have the kindle 2018 and sometimes I love it but the glitch factor is enormous. Each time I call Tech Support, the tech always says that the only fix is to wipe your kindle. And I always say that I cannot wipe my kindle; I have loads of books having been a kindle person for 12 years. I’m not wiping my kindle and then have to download my content from the cloud.
We all know how enormous Amazon is so shouldn’t someone be working on this issue? Oh, wait! They just want me to buy a new one later this year.