Amazon Just Announced a Color Kindle Scribe, and It’s Expensive
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Today at its fall device show, Amazon unveiled a new line of Kindle Scribe devices, less than a year after the release of the second-generation e-reader with writing functionality. All three devices feature a new design with thinner bezels and a larger 11-inch screen, but the main difference is that this digital notepad uses the same display technology as the Kindle Colorsoft, albeit at a hefty price.
Three new Kindle Scribes are on the way.
At the event, Amazon announced plans to update the Scribe line, which will include three different devices: the standard Kindle Scribe (starting at $499) with backlighting and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft (starting at $629) will go on sale later this year, with a third version without backlighting (starting at $429) coming “early” in 2026. Neither device is yet available for pre-order.
Considering Amazon released the Kindle Colorsoft e-reader last year, it’s no surprise they’re bringing their best-in-class color display stack to the Scribe, even though competitors like Boox have been offering color digital notepads for years. ( The $530 Boox Note Air 4C is currently my pick as the best all-around digital notepad for most people .) But I find the addition of a front-lit Scribe a bit confusing: while it’s true that adding a backlight layer increases the distance between the stylus tip and the internal display, which can make the writing experience feel less “papery,” the 2024 Kindle Scribe (with its excellent frontlight) already does this very well. Frankly, I’m surprised Amazon thinks there’s a big enough market for a non-backlit version, especially considering that at $429, it costs more than the current backlit model.
New design and new features
Amazon promises that these Scribes will provide an improved experience, whether you choose a color device or not: in a press release, the company touts a new frontlight system with more uniform lighting, a new textured glass that’s more comfortable to write on, a new glass display that reduces the gap between the outer glass and the inner display, as well as a faster processor and more memory.
All three Scribe models look identical, except for the different colored frames. Instead of the massive offset frame of the current generation, they now feature thinner, more even bezels on all four sides of the screen. Without a case, they weigh 400g, which is 34g lighter than the previous model.
It’s hard to say what all this means in practice. For example, Amazon claims the new Scribe is “40% faster at writing and turning pages,” but the Kindle already turns pages lightning fast, and as I noted in my review of the 2024 Scribe earlier this year , that model already offered an excellent writing experience. It’s unclear whether these upgrades justify the price increase, whether you’re upgrading or buying one for the first time.
Beyond the hardware, Amazon also announced software changes, including a redesigned home screen that centers notes, integration with Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, AI-powered note search, and the upcoming “Send to Alexa+” feature, which will allow you to interact with the paid version of Amazon’s digital assistant about the contents of your notebooks. It’s unclear whether previous models will receive the new software.
More expensive than competitors
Without having a chance to touch the new Scribe, I can say that all these changes sound great, but the prices—ugh. Amazon didn’t specify whether tariffs were a factor, but even taking into account the larger screen (11 inches versus 10.2 inches on the 2024 model), the apparent $100 price jump for the black-and-white Scribe is quite significant. (Of course, it’s not yet clear how much storage it will offer, but Amazon notes that the device “starts” at $499, while the 2024 model costs $399 for 16GB of storage and up.) And then again, the upcoming model without the front-panel backlight is more expensive than the current generation with the backlight (and the increased storage of 32GB, by the way).
With a starting price of $629, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is $100 more expensive than the Boox Note Air 4C, which also offers significantly more, as it’s not tied to Amazon’s restrictive ecosystem. Boox devices run an open version of Android with access to the full Google Play store, allowing you to download your favorite reading and productivity apps rather than be limited to Amazon’s OS. The Kindle will likely offer a more user-friendly writing interface and the typical Amazon user experience, but for such an expensive device, that’s only part of the equation.
Get a discount on the 2024 Kindle Scribe
If you’re not impressed by the promised changes and don’t care about the ability to take color notes, now’s the time to buy last year’s version of the Kindle Scribe: ahead of October’s Prime Day, it’s already on sale starting at $299 for 16GB of storage , though I’d probably go for the limited-time bundle with a cover and 64GB of storage expansion for $372.