New Amazon Kindle e-readers will come out on October 16th?

Amazon Kindle e-readers are sold out everywhere, all over the world. The only models left to purchase are the Kindle Scribe, Kindle Kids and various expensive bundles. Amazon is gearing up for a bevy of new products, which will be the 12th generation. The all-new Kindle Basic leaked on a Spanish e-commerce site several weeks ago. There were FCC filings last month for two other e-paper devices, likely the 2024 model of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition. New information has come to light, which points to an October 16th release date.

Many people who work in retail have disclosed to Good e-Reader that their system has new Kindles. They only have model numbers, and all state that they will be available to sell online and in-store on October 16th. They all told me several Kindles would be coming out simultaneously. This is likely why Amazon and their retail partners are having a fire sale with the current generation products. Target in the US sells Kindle e-readers for half-off at its physical locations, likely trying to dump all remaining stock.

There has been much speculation online from various media outlets that Amazon might abandon the Kindle and focus on Fire TV, Fire Tablets and other multimedia products. This is because the media landscape has dramatically changed since the advent of the Kindle. Manga, magazines, and newspapers have all moved to digital, and all look better on a colour screen, like a Fire Tablet, than a black and white Kindle. Amazon used to have a stranglehold on the ebook market when they sold them at a loss to drive Kindle adoption, but now, all their competition, such as Google Play Books, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble, all charge the same price.

This makes sense, and I can see why people think this way. Amazon is spending billions of dollars on their Prime originals, such as Rings of Power. Most media companies now offer Prime Video Channels, and none can be viewed on a Kindle; only Fire Tablets, Fire TV or the Prime Video app can be viewed on streaming boxes such as Apple TV. Amazon primarily focuses on videos and music; now, Amazon sells way more print books than Kindle books.

I do not think Amazon is getting out of the Kindle game. They control 80% of the US market and close to 90% in the United Kingdom. Audible is by far the most popular audiobook platform, but even though modern Kindles support audiobooks, most people listen to them on their smartphones.

Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.