Amazon has leaked a new Kindle Paperwhite, and it’s a significant update.

If you’ve been waiting for a new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite since the last one was launched in 2018. Your wait may be over, as Amazon looks to be releasing a new iteration of its mid-range e-reader very shortly.

Various regional Amazon websites have advertised a new Kindle Paperwhite, with better specs over the 2018 Kindle Paperwhite. As discovered by many members of Reddit’s r/kindle subreddit.
There’s also the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, which seems like a more expensive version of the main gadget.

One of the listings was discovered on Amazon’s Mexico site, while another was discovered on Amazon Canada. Amazon has now deleted both of them, but the images remain on Reddit, allowing us to examine the details. The gadgets aren’t mentioned on Amazon’s US or UK websites.

The listings’ removal suggests that the company did not want to share this information just yet. We reached out to Amazon for comment, but a representative said the business has nothing to give at this time.

Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite:

According to the description, the Kindle Paperwhite (2021) features a 6.8-inch screen, which is 0.8 inches larger than the 2018 model — this size increase might indicate that the reader itself is larger, or that the bezel around the edge is smaller. Another display improvement is that the screen will reportedly be illuminated by 17 LEDs, up from five on the previous model — this will make the display brighter and enhance the contrast. The description also mentions an adjustable warm light,’ which we’ve previously seen on the Kindle Oasis (2019); this allows you to pick a warmer (or redder) color, which can be more pleasant to look at, especially at night. The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, on the other hand, appears to include 32GB storage, auto-adjusting light sensors, and wireless charging.

Amazon began releasing Plus editions of their Fire tablets in 2020, and the Signature Edition appears to be a similar concept, but for an e-reader.

Finally, the Kindle Paperwhite pricing is given, which we feel is inaccurate. Both the new Paperwhite and the Signature Edition are listed at CAD$680 on the Canadian website. That’s a lot more than the 2018 Paperwhite’s CAD$139.99, and the new regular Kindle would almost certainly be less than the Signature Edition. So we believe those prices are just placeholders.

The new Kindle Paperwhite appears to be a significant upgrade over the three-year-old current-generation device. We’ll wait for official confirmation from Amazon before accepting any of this information as reality.