What you need to know
- Amazon’s 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite was allegedly leaked when images of its retail box surfaced online.
- The box indicates that the tablet will feature a slightly larger 7-inch display, 16GB of internal storage, and “weeks” of battery life.
- The expected upgrades are minimal at best, as are other options like Kobo’s new color e-reader and the Onyx Boox.
Amazon may be working on the next generation of Paperwhite tablets. It appears to have been inadvertently leaked.
The rumor stems from a retail employee who allegedly obtained a retail box for Amazon’s 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite. As Good E Reader pointed out, the most notable change is said to be the 7-inch display, so the images are less than exciting. The back of the box adds that the device may feature “adjustable warm lights,” an IPX8 2M waterproof rating, and “weeks” of battery life.
The front of the box suggests that the 12th generation Paperwhite will offer 16GB of internal storage.
The design of this purported next-generation reading tablet mirrors the 2021 11th generation Paperwhite. The device still features very thick bezels all around, not to mention the rather prominent chin that bears the Kindle name. We expect to see small differences in form factor as the display grows (slightly) from 6.8 inches to the rumored 7 inches.
What’s not clear is whether this is the only 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite we’ll get, or whether there will be a signature edition. The publication notes that the next generation of Signature Edition models may add features such as page-turning buttons and e-paper displays. However, it is unclear when this leaked model will arrive, so it is too early to tell.
However, the presence of that retail box could indicate that such a release date is coming soon.
When Amazon launched three Paperwhites in 2021, the company noted that the display was 10% brighter. More importantly, these older tablets had a battery life of about 10 weeks. This means users will need to charge the Paperwhite (approximately) once every two and a half months. Pairing this with a 9W charger, a full charge cycle took about 2.5 hours.
If these images are to be believed, then maybe you should look elsewhere for more change. I wish Amazon would improve the tablet’s charging capabilities to be more powerful and cycle faster.
But the problem is that Amazon risks falling behind other popular e-readers that are doing more. Earlier this year, Kobo launched its first color e-readers, Libra Color and Clara Color. These devices offer a 7-inch display with 32 GB of storage and rich color saturation with a palette of 4,096 colors.
There’s also Onyx Boox, which is gaining attention as an option on Amazon.
