The 12th-gen Kindle could be unveiled as soon as next week

Key Takeaways

• The 12th-gen Kindle may launch as soon as next week.
• The new e-reader could feature a brighter front-lit design, 16GB of storage, and modest battery improvements.
• The Kindle 12 could launch in two colorways, including the classic black and a matcha green option.

E-readers have come a long, long way since the release of the original Kindle back in 2007. Up until 2010, the retail giant churned out subsequent versions like the Kindle 2/Kindle 2 International, and the Kindle DX in 2009, followed by the Kindle Keyboard in 2010. What's common about those e-readers was that they all included physical keyboard-like buttons, up until a few years after touchscreen technology took off.

Inventing the wheel in the e-reader market and reinventing it on a broader scale, late 2011 saw the release of the first touchscreen Kindle 4. Fast-forward to now, Amazon is a major player in the e-reader and e-book market, with the Kindle boasting over 72 percent of the marketshare as of 2022, though smaller players like Kobo, reMarkable, Boox, and more have also made thier presence known.

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'E-reader' doesn't just mean 'Kindle' any more

Kindle 11 and the Kindle Scribe are the latest offerings from the retail giant, and considering that they were released in the second half of 2022, it might just be time for Amazon's next iteration to be unveiled. GoodEReader has suggested that to be the case, with the 12th-gen version of the Kindle supposedly leaking on Spanish retailer MediaMarkt's website (via The Verge).

The leaked listing has now been deleted, though it did leave crumbs behind.

For starters, the new e-reader could be released as soon as next week, with October 1 listed as its release date. That makes sense, considering its predecessor was also unveiled in October. The e-reader reportedly has a better front-lit 300ppi display that is 25 percent brighter than its predecessor.

Source: The Verge

The publication took screenshots of the listing, and it looks like the upcoming Kindle will have rising bezels that make it look like the screen sits at a distance, as seen in the screenshot above. The image highlights the Kindle in its "match green" colorway, though it should also be available in its regular black version.

The report also suggests that the 12th-gen Kindle will have "smoother page turns" paired with a new system-wide dark mode. Additionally, akin to its predecessor, the Kindle 12 is also expected to offer 16GB of storage, alongside Bluetooth 5.1 and a USB-C port for charging. Elsewhere, while the Kindle 11 offered up to six weeks of battery life on a single charge, the upcoming e-reader reportedly upgrades that to up to eight weeks.

According to the now-deleted listing, the e-reader will be available for €119 (roughly $133), making it more expensive than the with and without ads versions of the Kindle 11.

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