Kobo has a brand new white model of the Kobo Clara Color popping out tomorrow, and Amazon is anticipated to launch a new Kindle Scribe with a colour E Ink display quickly, and probably a 6″ colour Kindle too, however what about new ereaders with black and white E Ink screens?
This 12 months has been a down 12 months for brand new ereaders and eNotes getting launched basically, and nearly all the brand new fashions which have come out in 2025 have colour E Ink screens.
The mass transition to paint E Ink is an unsettling development when you favor the superior readability and distinction of conventional black and white E Ink screens. In case you’re interested by “upgrading” to a brand new colour mannequin, you may need to assume twice earlier than eliminating your previous black and white Kindles and Kobo ereaders as a result of there’s an opportunity you gained’t be capable to purchase them once more sooner or later.
I’m not saying that I believe all black and white ereaders are going to go away, however I believe there’s probability BW ereaders will get relegated to finances standing. The most affordable fashions with the least quantity of options may have BW E Ink screens, however the nicer “upgraded” fashions may solely be accessible with colour E Ink screens. Kobo has already began to do that by not releasing a BW Libra mannequin or a brand new white model of the Clara BW.
It’s type of the identical factor that occurred to premium 6″ ereaders. These days they’re a rarity once they was once commonplace. Virtually all of the 6″ ereaders which might be accessible now are finances fashions with low cost construct high quality and fewer options than ereaders with bigger screens.
It’ll be fascinating to see how this all performs out with the brand new colour Kindle Scribe that Amazon is anticipated to announce subsequent week. Will they launch a brand new BW model to go together with it? I doubt it. I wager they’ll simply hold promoting the present BW mannequin as is till they run out of inventory. The brand new colour mannequin will most likely have some {hardware} upgrades because the present Scribe remains to be utilizing {hardware} from 2022, so individuals will possible have to decide on between older {hardware} with a BW display or new {hardware} with a colour display.
Suppose Twice About Promoting BW eReaders and eNotes
I used to be interested by promoting my Kindle Scribe since I not often use it anymore (I just like the bigger display however except I’m studying PDFs a smaller Kindle is simpler to make use of), however then I spotted there’s probability Amazon gained’t launch one other BW Kindle Scribe ever once more, and that made me second guess that concept.
I bear in mind after I bought my first Kindle Voyage a few years in the past. I assumed Amazon would launch a more recent model sooner or later, or one thing higher finally, nevertheless it’s been 11 years now and that also hasn’t occurred.
One factor I’ve realized through the years, with regards to ereaders you possibly can by no means assume a brand new model goes to be higher. In reality, newer fashions are typically inferior to the mannequin they’re changing. They hold reducing prices to make issues as low cost as doable, and high quality management is worse than ever—getting an ereader with a good frontlight is like taking part in the lottery.
5 years from now all ereaders and eNotes may have colour E Ink screens. Lots of people didn’t like how frontlights made E Ink screens look worse once they first began popping out, however that didn’t cease firms from phasing out non-frontlit ereaders solely. As soon as one thing new picks up steam it’s arduous to cease it, particularly when that new characteristic is one thing that appeals to new patrons and is one thing firms can use as an excuse to cost extra for, even when it doesn’t price them considerably extra to supply. The one distinction with colour E Ink is it has a movie utilized excessive of a daily BW display, and it most likely prices subsequent to nothing so as to add that colour movie layer, however that provides firms like Amazon a motive to cost $90 extra for what is basically a Kindle Paperwhite with a colour display.
