Amazon’s New Kindle Lineup Includes the First-Ever Color Kindle

Amazon’s humble Kindle has had a bit of a resurgence, partly thanks to #BookTok—the community of TikTok users who discuss literature, book lists, and, among other things, ways to deck out Kindle ebook readers with accessories. Amazon says Kindle sales have grown in double-digit percentages for the past two years, which probably explains why the company is announcing four new Kindles today—the first time it has unveiled this many new models in a single moment.

Amazon’s device and services lead Panos Panay, who used to run Microsoft's Surface division, didn't shy away from flaunting just how popular Kindles have become during a hardware briefing on Tuesday. On Kindle devices, users read an average of 20.8 billion pages per month. Sixty percent of Kindle device sales in 2023 came from first-time customers. “Seeing the highest sales of Kindle in over a decade, customers are reading more than ever,” Panay says. “It’s almost like, thank goodness, because I thought we forgot how to read.”

It has been a few years since the popular gadget—now in its 17th year—received a massive facelift across all its models. The most recent Kindle Paperwhite (11th generation) launched in 2021, while the entry-level Kindle (11th Gen), Kindle Scribe, and Kindle Kids came out in 2022. Within that time, competitors like Kobo and Boox have released competing models with color e-paper displays, page-turn buttons (a feature we haven't seen on a Kindle since the Oasis), stylus support, and more.

To catch up, Amazon has four new Kindles: Kindle (12th Gen), Kindle Paperwhite (12th Gen), Kindle Scribe (2nd Gen), and the all-new Kindle Colorsoft—its first-ever color e-reader. Panay calls it “the largest shift of the Kindle lineup in years."

The Kindle Colorsoft

Color electronic paper displays have hit the ground running this year with devices like the Kobo Libra Colour and the ReMarkable Paper Pro. But it's safe to say anticipation has been high for a color Kindle. With the Colorsoft, book covers, photos, and images will appear in color. You'll also be able to add color highlights in books, and these will be searchable, so you don't have to hunt through pages to find that paragraph you highlighted.

The Colorsoft's features are very similar to the new Kindle Paperwhite (see below), but Amazon says the display technology is more intricate. The 7-inch display has an oxide backplane that Amazon says will deliver speedy performance and a higher contrast on color and black-and-white content. To keep the colors from bleeding together and maintain accuracy, the company had to fiddle with the front light and used nitride LEDs to enhance color and increase brightness. You can choose between standard or vibrant color styles and zoom in on images (without pixelation).

Fast page turns are the next big addition here, but there still are no dedicated page-turn buttons on the device. You get support for Qi wireless charging and up to eight weeks of battery life. It comes with the same auto-adjust light found on the Kindle Signature Paperwhite, which automatically adjusts the screen's brightness based on your environment.

The Kindle Colorsoft costs $280 and is available for preorder now. It ships on October 30.

A New Kindle

The basic Kindle gets the tiniest update of all these devices. It remains the company's smallest and most affordable Kindle model. Since its predecessor launched in 2022—with a higher-resolution screen (300 pixels per inch versus 197 PPI), double the storage (from 8 gigabytes to 16), and a USB-C port—the latest version doesn't come with many new upgrades.

The major changes include a faster page-turn rate so there's less delay while reading, a higher contrast ratio so that text looks both crisper and clearer, and a 25 percent brighter front light at the highest setting. This model still doesn't come with auto-adjusting light or warm lighting. The latter is especially disappointing, as a Kindle's major selling point is the capability to read at night without a lamp. For some people, the warm light feels easier on the eyes (especially before bed). It's an odd feature to gatekeep.

It comes in a new Matcha color, which may be attributable to the popularity of the Agave Green Kindle Paperwhite. Since its launch last year, the green ebook reader has gone viral on TikTok and is often sold out on Amazon. But you can also buy the new Kindle in black for a more muted tone.

The Kindle costs $110 (a $10 price bump over its predecessor), and you can order it now. It ships immediately.

Amazon also launched a new Kindle Kids edition. It comes with all the same features as the standard version, including a faster page-turn rate, a higher contrast ratio, and a brighter screen. But it also comes with a kid-friendly case (Amazon released a few new designs, too), a year's subscription to Amazon Kids+ subscription (the kid-friendly content library), parental controls, and a two-year warranty.

A New Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon says the Kindle Paperwhite is “the most popular Kindle used today.” The company was careful not to make any drastic changes and improve on existing features. The finished product? It's the thinnest, fastest, and sharpest Paperwhite yet.

The Paperwhite has 25 percent faster page turns to reduce lag while scrolling. The display is slightly larger. By shrinking the bezels around the screen, the company increased the display size from 6.8 inches to 7 inches without drastically changing the tablet's dimensions. It uses an oxide thin-film transistor, which Amazon says gives it the highest contrast ratio of any Kindle, delivering sharper text and images. Battery life is up too from a little more than two months to three months on a single charge. Like its predecessors, it's waterproof and includes 16 GB of storage.

There's also the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which has all the same features as the standard Paperwhite plus an auto-adjusting front light, wireless charging, and double the storage at 32 GB. Both versions also come in new colors including Metallic Raspberry, Metallic Jade, and Metallic Black.

The Kindle Paperwhite and Paperwhite Signature Edition are available now for $160 and $200, respectively, and they ship immediately.

Amazon also announced an all-new Kindle Paperwhite Kids. It has all the same features as the standard Paperwhite—it's faster, thinner, and brighter—but comes with kid-friendly cases, some of which feature new designs. It also comes with a year's subscription to Amazon Kids+ subscription (its kid-friendly content library), parental controls, and a two-year warranty.

The 2nd-Gen Kindle Scribe

The second-generation Kindle Scribe, designed for note-taking and reading, comes with a few new features on the inside and out. The display sports white borders with a paper-like display to mimic the look of a traditional sheet of paper. Meanwhile, the Premium Pen (sold separately) now has a soft-tipped eraser that feels like the one you'd find on a No. 2 pencil.

There are a few new software features in the Scribe too. There's Active Canvas, which allows you to write directly within the book you're reading (this was a big complaint we had with the original when we reviewed it). While making notes, it'll flow around the text and anchor the ink to the exact spot you annotated. That way, if you resize the text or the book layout changes, it won't lose its spot. In the future, you'll also be able to take advantage of expandable margins—so you can write in the side panel and hide the notes when you're done.

And if you thought you were safe from generative artificial intelligence in a hardware launch story about Kindles, you were wrong. Say hello to “Refined Writing” and “Summarization.” With Refined Writing, you can tap a button to refine your notes into a script font so that it's legible but also looks more presentable. Summarization quickly summarizes pages of notes into bullets within a script font that you can share directly from the notebook tab.

You can preorder the new Kindle Scribe now for $400, and it ships on December 4.