UPDATE: Oct. 16, 2024, 12:10 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with additional details about the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition's specs.
After an unceremonious leak earlier in the morning, Amazon officially unveiled its first color Kindle on Wednesday, Oct. 16. That's right: Almost 17 years after the release of the very first Kindle, a model with a color display is finally hitting the market.
In addition to the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, Amazon is also releasing new versions of the Kindle, Kindle Scribe, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Kids, the first major update to the Kindle line of e-readers since 2022.
The Colorsoft Signature Edition is set for launch on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at $279.99 and preorders are now live at Amazon.
Introducing the first-ever Kindle with a color display
The new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is a 7-inch, waterproof e-reader with a glare-free "Colorsoft" display that supports a full spectrum of shades. That means users can view book covers, scroll through comics, and highlight sentences in vivid colors. In a press release, Amazon said the new color Kindle "packs a suite of innovations that make every hue and shade pop," including a light guide with micro-deflectors that brighten without fading and an oxide backplane for crisp contrast and speedy page turns.
Just like the newly updated Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which has a grayscale display, this color variant comes with an auto-adjusting front light, 32GB of storage, and wireless charging via USB-C. (Its battery life is just slightly shorter: It lasts up to eight weeks per charge versus the standard Paper Signature Edition's twelve.) The Colorsoft Signature Edition also omits the lockscreen ads found in other Kindle models, which cost a premium to remove. It comes in a metallic black finish.
The Colorsoft Signature Edition is one of six new Kindles in Amazon's newly refreshed Kindle lineup, joining the flagship Kindle ($109.99 with lockscreen ads), the Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99 with ads), the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition ($199.99), the Kindle Paperwhite Kids ($179.99), and the Kindle Scribe (starting at $399.99 with 16GB of storage). All the other models are available for purchase immediately, save for the Kindle Scribe, which is up for preorder ahead of its Dec. 4 release date.
The release of the Colorsoft Signature Edition sets up some long-awaited competition for the $219.99 Kobo Libra Colour, which debuted this April as "the first color e-reader from a major brand," per Bethany Allard, lead shopping reporter at Mashable. Allard gave the Kobo Libra Colour a 3.8/5 rating in her review, praising its overall design and software support but noting that it's "definitely a first-generation product with a few issues to work out."
Stay tuned for our review of the Colorsoft Signature Edition.
