There are numerous reports out of China that the Kindle Paperwhite 5 screens are in mass production. Instead of the traditional 6 inch screen, they will instead use a 6.8 inch screen. Foxconn is assembling all of the components and doing all of the fitting and quality inspection. The one bottleneck right now is the main E INK factory in Yangzhou, eastern China, which provides the EPD screens. It has been closed due to a resurgence in COVID. The local government took strict measures to control traffic and people’s mobility, and consequently, production at the factory has decreased a great deal. In addition to reduced production, many shipments from the factory have been deferred. After the local government lifts the control, E Ink will make the most efforts to hike production and clean deferred shipments. They estimated that this will be complete in November, but I am now hearing reports they will be back to work sometime in September.
Various Chinese forum posts have claimed that the new Kindle will be coming out sometime in November. Amazon normally announces a new product about a month in advance of the actual release and normally takes pre-orders. Normally during the pre-order period Amazon sends out e-readers for media outlets to review and sets the embargo date at the same time that it is commercially available.
So it looks like the new Kindle Paperwhite 5 will have a larger screen, which should be good news for people who like to read lots of ebooks. More text can fit on the screen at once. It is also expected this device will be waterproof, have a 300 PPI display and have at least 32GB of internal storage. There will be differenrt color combinations that are available, with new colors just for this model. Of course, there will also be 4G/LTE internet access to optionally purchase. There is no word yet if it will have a USB-C port or a color temperature system.
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.
