The Amazon Kindle Scribe is the only 10-inch e-reader and e-note in the world that has 300 PPI screen. The most popular screen size in this category is 10.3, because it was designed to read A5 documents. This includes popular e-notes such as the Kobo Elipsa, Fujitsu Qauaderno A4 Bigme, Supernote A5X and the Remarkable 2. However, all of these models generally have 227 PPI. How can Amazon have amazing PPI, when all the others don’t? It is because E INK made a customized panel for them.
In an official statement to Good e-Reader, E INK said “The Amazon Scribe is using a higher resolution TFT. This is a new TFT offering from E Ink, with Amazon having exclusivity with it for a period of time.” Without any press releases or white papers, E INK created an entirely new screen for the Kindle Scribe and they have exclusivity for it. The only other time I can remember this happening is when the Sony Digital Paper first came out and E INK created a new screen called Mobius, which was made of plastic and very light. I recall, they had around a one year exclusivity for it and then other vendors could buy the panels from E INK and use them in mass production for future products, which many people did.
I have a feeling that Amazon and E INK have either a six month or a one year exclusivity agreement for the new high resolution e-paper panel. So, it is very likely that by the end of 2023, we should see other 10-inch screens having 300 PPI, which would be huge step forward for the e-reader and e-note industry.
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.