Amazon Forges A Faster Kindle Lineup With More Metal And Less Bulk
Amazon is giving its Kindle e-reader family a comprehensive hardware overhaul, after having also overhauled its Fire TV Stick lineup. Moving away from the all-plastic design of past generations, the redesigned Kindle lineup leans into recycled aluminum while slimming down footprints and deploying a new display stack that stretches edge-to-edge color accents across every model.
Working our way up the lineup, Amazon says its all-new 6-inch Kindle (the base model within the Kindle family) is its most pocket-sized e-reader ever released. Amazon shrunk its waistline down to just 6.8mm (0.27 inches), and it's lightweight at a mere 140 grams (0.3 lbs).
It's the first time this model has been available with aluminum instead of plastic. The base Kindle also sports 16GB of internal storage and offers up to 6 weeks of battery life, according to Amazon. The company is also claiming 30% faster book openings.
Pricing on the base Kindle starts at $149.99 for 16GB and $189.99 for 32GB.
The Kindle Paperwhite, which is traditionally the sweet spot of Amazon’s e-reader lineup, is also improved from the previous-generation model. It too adopts an 80% recycled aluminum rear housing that ditches the plastic back of its predecessors, and Amazon managed to trim overall thickness to 7.2mm while retaining a glare-free 7-inch display.
It comes with 16GB of built-in storage, while the battery life is rated for up to 12 weeks on a single charge via USB-C. Amazon also extended the e-reader's edge-to-edge accent colors to include Alpine Sky, Seaglass Green, and Ube.
For those wanting extra headroom, the Paperwhite Signature Edition upgrades storage to 32GB, adds auto-adjusting front light sensors, and integrates wireless charging alongside magnetic rear pogo pins. And of course, the Signature Edition does away with lockscreen ads.
The refreshed Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is available now for $249.99.
For those wanting a splash of color, the Kindle Colorsoft also received a refresh.
"Our latest Kindle Colorsoft has a completely redesigned display, using the reverse printing technology we applied across the lineup for edge-to-edge color. The light guide contains micro-deflectors that minimize stray light and improve uniformity, and an ultra-thin optical coating in the display stack improves clarity," Amazon explains.
It's also thinner (6.8mm) and lighter (204 grams) than the last-gen model, and like the other two models, it adopts an aluminum chassis. Additionally, the 32GB Signature Edition variant adds an auto-adjusting front light, a pogo-pin charging dock, and double-tap support to turn pages.
The refreshed Kindle Colorsoft runs $289.99 for 16GB, or $319.99 for the 32GB Signature Edition. Both are available now.
On top of the Kindle refreshes, Amazon announced some related accessories, including the Kindle Click for $34.99 (Bluetooth remote for page turning), Page Turn Cover for $79.99 (magnetic cover with physical page turn buttons ), a Charging Dock for $59.99 (serves as a stand as well - coming soon), and Kindle Covers starting at $39.99.
