There were more e-readers released in 2024 than any other year in history. The largest companies in this space, such as Amazon and Kobo, dominated the headlines. There was lots of new e-paper technology included in some products that were not seen before. What were the biggest e-reader news stories of the year? There were tons of them, and Good e-Reader is breaking down the most essential.
In our roundup of the biggest news stories of the year, we examine the companies involved in this space, what they released, and other news stories about controversies, new initiatives, or digital content strategies. We did not consider every e-reader release from every company, but we mainly focused on the important ones.
Amazon
Amazon refreshed its Kindle e-reader lineup for the first time in close to four years. In the last couple of months of 2024, the company released the Kindle 11th Generation 2024 in a few new colors, including Matcha Green. The 12th Generation Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition also came out. The Paperwhite had a new color, jade, and the Signature Edition had Metallic Jade and Metallic Raspberry. The Paperwhites screen was a little bit larger and has 25% faster page turns and 20% faster performance, primarily due to the Carta 1300 e-paper display.
The Kindle Scribe also got a refresh, only a couple of years after its initial release. It has a new color scheme and more of a ledger design. The hardware is the same as the first generation. The revised stylus has a rubber eraser and a quick map button for various quick tasks. The significant hyping factor was the new software experience. It has Active Canvas, which has replaced Sticky Notes when writing on Kindle Books, PDF files, and Word documents. There are also quick insights via AI-powered notebook summarization. If you have lousy writing when using the stylus, it will convert your handwritten notes into something more legible. All of these new features came to the first-generation Kindle Scribe via a software update.
The biggest Kindle news story of the year was the first Amazon color e-reader, the Kindle Colorsoft. This had the same form factor and hardware specs as the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, with performance upgrades, an ambient light sensor, and fast charging. Amazon employed E INK Kaleido 3 and did something completely new with the display. Amazon says this new device has custom-formulated coatings between the display layers to enhance the color, a light guide with micro-deflectors to minimize stray light, and an ultra-thin coating in the display stack to improve optical performance. They built the display on an oxide backplane for sharper contrast and better image quality.
I am unsure if Amazon rushed the Colorsoft to market and did not have enough quality and control, but the first batch had a very pronounced yellow bar or band at the bottom of the screen. Due to consumer backlash, all major tech blogs picked up on the story. Amazon received many returns, and customers complained that they updated the product listing to inform everyone about the issue.
Amazon produced new e-readers a few months later and issued a software update that has since fixed the issue. Although, shipping times are sporadic at best. This debacle put the international release of Colorsoft into Europe and Asia on hold until they could produce enough new units to ensure a successful rollout.
Rakuten Kobo
Rakuten Kobo had an eventful 2024, with the release of a number of new e-readers. The company released their first color e-readers the Libra Color and the Kobo Clara Color. These devices used E INK Kaleido 3 and did something unique compared to the competition. Every e-reader has several gel layers that are stacked on top of each other. There is the front-lit display and color temperature lighting system, the capacitive touchscreen, Carta, Color, and finally, the layer of glass to protect everything. Usually, the color layer is in the middle of the stack, which makes most color e-readers look washed out. Kobo put the Kaleido 3 e-paper at the top of the stack, so their colors look way better. They also did not use glass and instead used a sunken screen and bezel design.
Not only did Kobo release two color e-readers, but also the Kobo Clara BW, a traditional black and white e-reader, for those who did not want a color one. The BW is the most affordable one currently being marketed, but overall, the Kobo color devices are very cheap compared to the competition.
When Kobo announced all three of their new e-readers, they ensured users could get value from them over the years. Rakuten and iFixit formed a partnership where screens, batteries, and other internal components are available to purchase and a series of videos were produced, walking users through the repair process. This is the first time an e-reader company has done something like this.
Kobo Plus expanded into other markets this year, primarily in Europe. Kobo Plus is a subscription program; users can subscribe to e-books, audiobooks, or both for a higher fee. They also added a ton of new material, such as Harry Potter.
Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble is the largest bookseller in the United States and has long competed against Amazon and Kobo. One of its competitive advantages is its 600 bookstores. Users can try the Nook e-readers and Android tablets before they buy. If anything goes wrong or they experience buyer’s remorse, they can quickly return to the store and get a refund.
The bookseller did not release any new e-book readers in 2024, but they did partner with Lenovo for an Android tablet called the Nook Tablet 9. What are the major selling points of Lenovo’s NOOK Tablet 9? It has a large 9-inch display, dual speakers, Dolby Audio, Grayscale, Chromatic & Immersive reading modes, TÜV Rhineland-certified eye protection, and Android 13 with Google Play. It is also very affordable, at around $119.99.
In 2024, Barnes and Noble discontinued the Nook Glowlight 4e, their entry-level e-reader. They now only sell two e-readers, the Nook Glowlight 4 and the Nook Glowlight Plus. The Plus is their premium e-reader that came out in 2023 and has a large 7.8-inch e-paper display with a matte screen protector installed at the factory to reduce glare. It is waterproof and is their first e-book reader with audiobook functionality and page-turn buttons to make ebook reading enjoyable.
In 2024, Barnes and Noble stopped supporting old Nook tablets from 2011-2013. Users can no longer connect to the Barnes and Noble Bookstore to buy digital content, such as audiobooks and ebooks. They also won’t be able to register new accounts or login to existing accounts. They are now considered to be paperweights. What Nook tablet models are now considered EOL? The Nook Color, Nook Tablet, Nook HD, and Nook HD+. These tablets join the older Nook e-readers that are also EOL, such as Nook Simple Touch, Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and the Nook Glowlight.
Barnes and Noble are getting serious about the Nook. They have invested in new signage advertising the products and have new display stands with all of their latest e-readers and tablets powered on and ready for prospective customers. This is a massive pivot from a few years ago when the Nook could not be advertised in stores and was hidden away by the customer service desk.
Pocketbook
Pocketbook released several e-readers in 2024, most of which were color variants. The Verse Pro Color is one of the best; it has the same form factor as the Verse and Verse Pro; the only difference is the Kaleido 3 e-paper display. The Pocketbook Era color has the same form factor as the normal Pocketbook Era, except for a Kaleido 3-color e-paper display. What are the major selling points? 3. Audiobook support, built-in speaker, Text-to-Speech function, SMARTlight, IPX8 water protection, and physical page-turn buttons.
At the beginning of the year, Pocketbook dipped its toes in the digital notebook category to better compete against Amazon, Kobo, Boox, and Remarkable in Europe. The Pocketbook Eo Color notebook is running Google Android 11 and, for the first time, full access to the Google Play Store. You can read all of your digital content in full, vibrant color thanks to the Kaleido 3 e-paper display.
The Pocketbook EO is based on the Bigme InkNote Color+, but Pocketbook has made several changes on the hardware and software level. The front-facing camera is gone, and ditto with the pogo pins. You can purchase audiobooks and ebooks from the Pocketbook Bookstore, with tabs to let you browse. Pocketbook developed its custom firmware to make the UI user-friendly for EU and US users. In the Notes application, performance and handwriting quality were optimized. In addition, they reworked some instruments to make them perform better. Setup wizard, Settings, Notes application, and many other apps were reworked; as an additional reading application, the PocketBook reader app with the PocketBook cloud. The send-by-email feature was added. It allows users to send note files to emails without additional logins.
They also released the InkPad X Pro, which is also running Google Android and has access to the Play Store. I like its T10.3-inch E INK Mobius display, which is very light.
reMarkable
Remarkable is one of the most significant success stories in the digital notebook space. They have three generations of tablets and typically release new hardware every three or four years. They have raised a copious amount of funding, and their latest generation produced is the reMarkable Paper Pro with Color Canvas 3.0 e-paper display. Thanks to the new front-lit display, working during the day or night makes staying productive easier. Why did they use to incorporate these features? reMarkable has been listening to users who wanted a lighting system and a color display to view color PDF files and freehand draw, take notes, and edit documents. The best-selling feature? It is using E INK Gallery 3 and can display over 20,000 colors.
Remarkable is the second company to use Gallery 3 on a commercial product. However, reMarkable is the largest and has the potential to go truly mainstream. How did the company manage to make Gallery 3 work? reMarkable told me in a written statement, “In the Gallery 3 platform, E Ink gave us the right ingredients for making a unique color display. Using that display paper technology as a foundation, our teams have redesigned every part of reMarkable’s signature paper-like writing experience, from the Marker tip to the textured display surface to how reMarkable OS, our custom operating system, behaves. The result is the Canvas Color display, a custom display stack that delivers an even better writing experience than reMarkable 2. Out of the box, Gallery 3 promises “an update time of 30 ms.” On reMarkable 2, it’s 21 ms. On reMarkable Paper Pro, it’s as low as 12 ms.”
Here and There
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- There were tons of other e-readers released during the year. The most notable was the Bigme Hibreak smartphone with both a color model and a black and white one. Onyx ushered in a new GO lineup with three new models and the fan favorite, Palma 2. The most eagerly anticipated new model is the Boox Note Max, a new 13.3 e-note. Viwoods continues to appeal to users who want a digital notebook experience with the emergence of the AI Note and AI Note Mini.
- E INK Carta 1300 started to become a reality. The Carta 1300 display replaced the Carta 1200 screen in e-readers. The Kobo Clara BW was the first device to use the Carta 1300 display in May 2024, and Amazon followed suit in October 2024 with its black-and-white Kindles. The Carta 1300 display is more responsive and has sharper text.
- The E Ink Kaleido 3 screen technology is considered to have the best color display, but colors may appear muted compared to a phone or tablet.
- iFlytek released their first e-reader aimed at an English audience, the AI Note.
- The e-reader industry is projected to grow from $10.67 billion in 2024 to $18.10 billion by 2032.
- Amazon’s Kindle dominates the e-reader market with a 72% share. Amazon also leads the eBook market with 79% of all purchases in the US
- There are lots of new e-paper technology coming in 2025, such as E INK Kaleido 3 Plus, Carta 1300 and 1350 will start to hit more products.
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.
