March 11, 2022 By Michael Kozlowski 1 Comment
Amazon surprised many people in the industry when they released the 11th generation Kindle Paperwhites in late 2021. The company made the call to increase the screen size from 6 inches to 6.8, providing more ample screen real estate for readers. There are plenty of other key features such as the inclusion of more LED lights than any other Kindle, this is primary due to the new color temperature system that was borrowed from the Kindle Oasis. There are two models to choose from, the standard 8GB model and the Signature Edition, which has 32GB of storage, an ambient light sensor and quick charging. What are Amazons plans for future e-readers in 2022?
Amazon is at a crossroads when it comes to the rest of the Kindle lineup. The entry level Kindle Basic model came out in 2019 and is ideal for someone who has never had an e-reader before. The PPI is only 167 and it has a six inch E INK display, so text does not look very crisp. One of the big selling points at the time, was the front-lit display. However, it only has 4 LED lights, so the screen is not very bright. Midway through the lifecycle, Amazon quietly increased the storage from 4GB to 8GB, which was a welcome change. I believe Amazon will refresh this model sometime in 2022. Likely they will introduce a small amount of amber LED lights for a color temperature system. I doubt they will increase the resolution of the display, nor make it waterproof.
The Kindle Oasis 3rd generation also came out in 2019. This used to be considered their large screen, flagship e-reader. It has a 7 inch E Ink Carta HD capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1680 x 1264 and 300 PPI. The screen is made of glass and the body is made of high grade aluminum. It has physical page turn buttons and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the front-lit display and color temperature system. I believe Amazon will do two different things with this unit sometime in 2022. They will either discontinue the Oasis brand and release a digital note taking device, similar to the Remarkable 2 or Kobo Elipsa or come out with the Oasis 4 with a 7.8 inch screen and make it standout from the Kindle Paperwhite, which is basically the same size as the Oasis 3.
There might be some other things that will come into play on future Kindle e-readers. The company has fully integrated ComiXology from their own app into the main Kindle app and also on Kindle e-readers. A larger screen 7.8 inch or a 10.3 inch would make for a really good comic reader. Digital manga sales are also booming in the United States and Amazon has a huge selection, manga also looks really good on larger screens. So, I believe Amazon will release a larger screen device in 2022 to take advantage of all of this other content that has never looked good on a small screen. Michael Kozlowski ( Editor-in-chief ) Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Share Tweet Share Reddit Vote Email
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.