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Amazon is supposed to release new Kindle e-readers this year, since they did not release any new models in 2020.

The Kindle Paperwhite 4 released  in 2018, and the Oasis came out in 2019. What new e-paper technology could Amazon bring in this year?

Will future Kindles use color e-paper?

In the past of this year , the Pocketbook InkPad Color, Onyx Boox Nova 3 Color, Smartbook V5 Color and Guoyue V5 released with new color e-paper feature, since E INK Kaleido 2 has been released. This technology uses a color filter array, which is a built right into the e-paper. The benefits of the 2nd generation e-paper are the greyscale uniformity, which has been dramatically improved, so the background will always be grey, instead of colors try to mix together to create grey. It has better color accuracy, supports for screens from  5.84 to 10.3. E INK Regal has been improved for faster performance,for displaying graphic novels, comics, manga and ebooks. The color gamut has been improved by over 3x and text is crisper.

Earlier this year, E INK released new e-paper technology called On-Cell Touch. It is compatible with Carta HD displays, which have been used in Kindles for years. This new technology  increases performance of black and white displays by 30% and increases the contrast ratio, providing future e-readers with clearer and more defined text.E INK told that this tech is cheaper to employ, because the E INK Carta e-paper and touchscreen is now on a single layer, rather than two layers.

The next generation E Ink Carta 1200 delivers a 20% increase in response time over than E Ink Carta 1000. Ink Carta 1200 offers is also an 15% improvement to the contrast ratio. In addition, faster response time enables smoother handwriting and animations on EPD displays. E Ink Carta 1200 supports Regal technology for image updates. Morever, E Ink currently offers digitizer and capacitive touch solutions. Digitizer touch technology utilizes a stylus to update the display. Capacitive touch technology utilizes finger swipes, and is placed on top of the display module. E Ink’s touch solutions will not affect the reflectivity of the display.

Will Amazon employ E INK Carta 1200 and On-Cell Touch? Combined, these two technologies provide an 45% increase in contrast and 20% increase in response time. This would be in addition to any CPU or RAM increases or software changes. Likely, these upgrades would be for the Kindle Paperwhite 5 and Kindle Oasis 4. I highly doubt that Amazon will use color screen for a couple of years. Likely Kobo or Barnes and Noble would release a color e-reader before Amazon would.