Amazon is giving its Kindle lineup a splash of color, including one shade that should sound particularly familiar to Filipino readers: Ube.
The company unveiled a redesigned Kindle family on Oct. 1, introducing new colors Ube, Alpine Sky, Seaglass Green and Fig alongside Graphite. The Ube option, described by Amazon as a rich purple, is available on the new six-inch Kindle.
And yes, Amazon is referring to the purple yam.
The company said the color was inspired by the growing popularity of ube, following the success of the Matcha Kindle introduced in 2024. Amazon vice president of design Chris Green has said that the company had been tracking food trends and saw interest in ube grow significantly.
Amazon said alternative Kindle colors historically accounted for around 15% to 20% of sales, but Matcha eventually made up 55%, prompting the company to look at another food-inspired shade.
The new Kindle and its aluminum version are rolling out across 19 markets, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and several countries in Europe and the Middle East. The Philippines is not among the initial markets.
Beyond the new colors, the entry-level Kindle received a redesign.
The six-inch model now has a flush-front display, replacing the raised bezel of previous generations. Amazon also developed an edge-to-edge color system that allows the purple finish to extend around the display without reflecting a purple tint onto the reading area.
The new Kindle comes with 16GB of storage, up to six weeks of battery life and book-opening speeds that Amazon says are around 30% faster than the previous generation. The power button has also been moved to the upper-right side of the device.
An aluminum version of the Kindle comes with 32GB of storage and is offered in Alpine Sky and Seaglass Green.
Amazon also refreshed the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Colorsoft, while introducing accessories including a Bluetooth remote for turning pages.
