Amazon announces and does not announce 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 opted for black and white screens for its e-readers, eschewing color to focus squarely on a great text reading experience. But change appears to be on the horizon, as the company has announced (and not announced) its first color Kindle, the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

Amazon prematurely announced four new Kindle e-readers, only to cancel the announcement even though The edge summarizes everything that was presented. It’s possible that Amazon will re-announce the device later. Considering that this is an official announcement, a high degree of trust can be placed in it.

The biggest announcement is the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, “designed to deliver rich, paper-like colors” for book covers and highlighted text. This new Kindle is waterproof and offers fast page turning, 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 will ship starting October 30th.

The original Kindle Scribe launched in November 2022, so Amazon is updating the Kindle for note-taking this year. The new Kindle Scribe, i.e. the Kindle Scribe 2, continues the note-taking legacy with a 300ppi screen with new white edges. It also introduces the new “Active Canvas” feature that allows you to add notes directly to book pages and text flows around them. Soon you will also be able to add notes in the side panel, which you can hide later. The built-in notebook is infused with AI to summarize pages into concise bullet points. Notes can also be made legible in preparation for export with a handwritten font.

The ad mentions that the Kindle Scribe costs $399.99 and will ship starting December 4th, 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 and 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, as the ad has been removed). 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 basic Kindle is also being updated to its 12th generation. The Kindle 12 weighs just 159g and comes with a 300ppi anti-glare screen with faster page turning 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 re-announce the devices for purchasing links and final confirmation on the details of these new Kindles. Still, have you liked the new Kindles so far? Let us know in the comments below!