Amazon announces and un-announces new Kindle family, including the first color Kindle

Kindles are great e-reading devices thanks to their lightweight design, distraction-free UX, insane battery life, and easy access to books and digital media. However, Amazon has largely stuck to black-and-white displays for its e-readers, shunning color to focus squarely on a great text-reading experience. But change seems to be on the horizon, as the company has announced (and unannounced) its first color Kindle, the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

Amazon prematurely announced four new Kindle e-readers, only to pull down the announcement, although The Verge summarizes all that was presented. It’s possible that Amazon will reannounce the device later on. Considering this was an official announcement, one can place a high degree of confidence in it.

The biggest announcement is the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, “designed to offer a rich and paper-like color” for book covers and highlighted text. This new Kindle is waterproof and features fast page turns, wireless charging, up to 8 weeks of battery life, and a new light guide with nitride LEDs. The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition costs $279.99 and ships from October 30 onwards.

The original Kindle Scribe was launched in November 2022, so Amazon is refreshing the note-taking Kindle this year. The new Kindle Scribe, i.e., the Kindle Scribe 2, carries on the note-taking legacy with a 300ppi screen with new white edges. It also features the new “Active Canvas” feature that lets you add notes directly to the pages of books, and the text flows around them. You’ll also be able to add notes in the side panel soon, which can be hidden later. The integrated notebook is infused with AI to summarize pages into concise points. Notes can also be made readable in preparation for export with a handwritten-style font.

The announcement mentions that the Kindle Scribe costs $399.99 and will ship from December 4 onwards, with pre-orders starting today. This Kindle pairs well with Amazon’s Premium Pencil with a new soft-tip eraser.

The new Kindle Paperwhite 6 has a larger 7-inch screen in a thinner profile while sporting a battery life of up to three months. The device is water-resistant and comes with 16GB of storage.

The Kindle Paperwhite 6 costs $159.99 and is “available now” (but not really, since the announcement was pulled down). You can also get the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition for $199.99, which has 32GB of storage, wireless charging, and an auto-adjusting front light.

The entry-level Kindle is also being refreshed to its 12th generation. The Kindle 12 weighs just 159g and comes with a 300ppi non-reflective screen with faster page turns and 16GB of storage. Like the Paperwhite 6, the Kindle 12 is also “available now” for $109.99.

We’ll have to wait for Amazon to reannounce the devices to get purchase links and final confirmation on the details of these new Kindles. Still, how do you like the new Kindles so far? Let us know in the comments below!