No Kindle Color release date has been announced yet, and Amazon hasn’t commented on whether one is planned for the future. A color e-ink screen is one of the most requested features for Amazon’s e-readers. However, with the announcement of the latest model, the Kindle Scribe, we’re reminded that the company lags behind the competition.
Will there ever be a Kindle Color?
Kindle fans have wanted a model with a color screen for years. However, until the recent release of Kaleido 3 color e-ink displays, the tech wasn’t ready for the mainstream. Even now, it suffers from washed-out colors and slow refresh rates, making it unappealing for many.
Amazon capitalizes on three things with its Kindle line:
- Ease of use
- Reliability
- Low cost
The Kindle brand is ubiquitous with eReaders, and many people that use them aren’t exactly techies. Color screens bring more options and potentially more confusion for those who just want a device they can use to easily read their books.
Color screens also have issues with displaying certain content due to their limited color palette and have a relatively slow refresh rate. Again, for tech enthusiasts, this isn’t an issue, but laymen will take this as meaning a device is “less reliable” or “worse” than Amazon’s other Kindle models.
Color e-ink displays are still fairly expensive. Amazon likely won’t be interested in including the technology in a Kindle until it can be purchased at scale for cheap.
So, we don’t expect to see a Kindle Color until the technology matures further. However, when it can match the reliability and affordability of current Kindles, Amazon will likely put some effort into creating one.
