- The next basic Amazon Kindle has seemingly leaked
- It looks to have some small design changes from the previous model
- But it's a shame there's no sign of a new smaller size
It looks like Amazon is gearing up to launch a new Kindle, as images of a new model — which you can see above and below — have been leaked by WinFuture. This is the Amazon Kindle 12th Gen, so it’s the basic model — not a Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Colorsoft.
From the shared images, it seems this new device will have more rounded corners than the Amazon Kindle (2024), and the power button will be moved from the bottom to the top. The site has also shared that we can expect this Kindle to come in black, green, light blue, and purple shades, and that, interestingly, there might be two versions — one with a recessed screen and one where the display is flush.
Alongside this, Amazon is apparently planning a new Kindle for Kids, though no major changes are expected here, with it apparently being essentially the same as the current device, just shipping with a different cover included.
A smaller device could be a big hit
It remains to be seen whether the new 12th-generation Kindle will bring many spec upgrades, but regardless, it’s not the device I want. Lately I’ve fallen in love with compact ereaders like the ViWoods AiPaper Reader and the even smaller Xteink X4 Pro, and I'm spending more time reading on them than my Kindle Colorsoft — but Amazon doesn’t offer anything in these sizes.
So, that’s what I really want to see — especially something truly tiny like the Xteink devices, since one of their main issues is the difficulty in getting books onto them, which presumably isn’t a problem you’d have with a tiny Kindle.
And I’m not alone in this desire — a Reddit thread about this new Kindle leak included comments like “I was kind of hoping for a mini Kindle announcement,” and “I thought I would want a bigger size… until I got a smaller one and practically never touched my Paperwhite again.”
And while these tiny ereaders seem like they should be niche devices, they’re presumably selling well, given that an increasing number of brands like Onyx Boox and Honor have started getting in on them too.
So, hopefully we’ll see a tiny Kindle eventually, but for now, it seems you’ll have to make do with the standard sizes.
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