Amazon’s new basic Kindle proves you don’t need all the bells and whistles

In October, Amazon announced its refreshed Kindle lineup, its first significant design overhaul in years. The highlights included a new edge-to-edge design that eliminated traditional raised bezels, thinner and lighter Paperwhite and Colorsoft models with better displays, and page-turning accessories like a Bluetooth remote and a magnetic cover with page-turn buttons.

However, given the impact of the global memory-chip shortage driven by the AI boom, the new Kindles also debuted with pricing that had increased by $40 to $50 across the lineup. That makes it more difficult for the average consumer to consider buying one of the more premium devices.

For that reason, the Kindle I most wanted to get my hands on was the 6-inch entry-level device, which starts at $169.99 for the ad-free version. With the price hikes, this is the Kindle that will remain the most affordable to new e-reader buyers.

The question I weighed was whether or not the basic Kindle is even worth buying at this price when there are arguably better Kindles on the market. The answer, after a couple of weeks of testing, is yes — if you can live without the bells and whistles and prefer a smaller, lighter device.

On the 6-inch Kindle, there’s no warm light to reduce eye strain, no color display, no auto-adjusting brightness, no option to use the page-turn cover, and it’s not waterproof. Obviously, because of its size, the screen is smaller, as is the battery. Battery life is 6 weeks compared with the Paperwhite’s 12 weeks or Colorsoft’s 8 weeks.

Still, even this basic Kindle has seen improvements of its own, mostly from a physical design perspective.

The plastic 2026 Kindle is 11% lighter and 14% thinner than the 2024 model, weighing 140g versus 158g and measuring 6.85mm thick versus 8mm. While this seems like a small change, the 18-gram difference is noticeable and particularly welcome for a device you’re likely to carry in your purse or bag. Plus, it makes it easier to hold for hours on end when you’re really binging your way through a book.

(The aluminum version, meanwhile, is slightly heavier at 162g, or 4 grams more than the 2024 Kindle, though it still benefits from the slimmer design.)

And despite being the “starter” Kindle, the 6-inch basic device still received the new flush-front screen update. This makes it more comfortable to hold in your hand, especially for those long reading sessions. Amazon explained that you don’t have to worry about no longer having a bezel to rest your thumb upon, either, as the new Kindles have been updated to detect a dead zone in the capacitive touch that will readjust to account for the fact that your finger is there.

In practice, that doesn’t mean you can just press your thumb down anywhere on the Kindle’s screen as you hold it — doing so would register this as an attempt to highlight or look up a word. Instead, it means you can rest your thumb or fingers on the outer edge of the Kindle’s screen (the colored border) without triggering an unintentional tap, even though some of your finger will be touching part of the Kindle’s capacitive screen.

In terms of the software, the new basic Kindle is a bit snappier than its 2024 predecessor. This is most noticeable when opening books, which Amazon claims to be 30% faster.

If you’re coming from the 2019 Kindle Basic, the 2026 version is an even bigger upgrade, as you gain USB-C, more storage (from 4GB to 8GB to now 16GB or 32GB), the new flush screen, and the screen resolution jumps from 167 ppi to 300 ppi. It’s faster, thinner, and lighter, too, and the battery lasts weeks longer.

Another perk about the basic Kindle beyond its small size (this thing fits in your jeans’ back pocket!), is that you can now pay a little more for an upgraded version with an aluminum backing instead of plastic and more storage. The new $189.99 aluminum option comes in Seagrass and Alpine Sky hues, and ships with 32GB of storage. Meanwhile, the $169.99 plastic model offers 16GB of storage.

However, even if you go for the less expensive option, you can at least now pick a fun color other than black (aka Graphite), as Amazon has introduced a cheery purple option called Ube. (I almost wish I’d gone for this one, just for the whimsy of it, even though I prefer the feel of the aluminum.)

I should point out that you can use the Kindle Click, the new Bluetooth remote for page turning, with the basic Kindle, but I’m not sure why you’d need to, if not for some accessibility-related reason. The 6-inch Kindle was already the smallest, and now it’s lighter and easier to hold, too. (But perhaps I just don’t get the appeal of the remote? I’ve barely used the remote with my Kobo either!)

The big thing to consider here is whether you want to spend this much on a Kindle that lacks a warm light. While this is something of a personal preference, for some readers, no warm light is a dealbreaker. The warm light shifts the color tone of the Kindle’s display from a cooler bluish-white to a softer amber glow, which is meant to help reduce eye strain and improve reading conditions in low light or at night.

Whether you need this feature depends on where you like to read and how long your sessions tend to be. If you read nightly in bed with little light, you might prefer paying extra for a $199.99 16GB Kindle Paperwhite. (That version only comes in Graphite. The 32GB Paperwhite can come in Seaglass, too, but is $249.99).

If you often read by the pool or on vacation, you also might want to upgrade to a waterproof Kindle.

But if you can live without the extra features and want the best purse- or pocket-sized device, the 6-inch Kindle is still a viable option.