Kindle Paperwhite 2021 Rumors – What to Expect

It’s been almost 2 years since Amazon released the Kindle Paperwhite 4, so there’s a good chance we’ll see a new Kindle Paperwhite in 2021.

The Kindle Paperwhite has been lagging behind its competitors for a few years now, but this might be the year when we see a major upgrade to the Kindle Paperwhite to differentiate itself from the basic Kindle ereader model.

Here are a few features that may (or may not) appear on the new Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021).

Adjustable Warm Light

Two years on and this feature is now available on most mobile devices. Given the health benefits of using warm light while reading, I would expect to see the latest Kindle Paperwhite release with adjustable warm light, making evening reading that more enjoyable.

64GB Internal Storage

Ebook file sizes have remained the same for several years now, with the average book size being between 3-5MB. This means you can fit up to 6400 ebooks on the 32GB version.

Onyx BOOX recently released the Nova 3 Nov 2020. The ereader still comes with 32GB of internal storage, so Onyx feels that this is still adequate storage size for their device.

Given that most competitors have yet to upgrade to 64GB internal storage, it’s unlikely we will see Amazon follow suit.

USB C Connector

But given that Amazon supplies a USB cable and most USB-C cables can connect to existing wall chargers, I’m surprised that Kindle STILL has Micro USB across its ereaders.

However, I think this will change in 2021.

There’s a good chance we’ll see the Kindle Paperwhite 5 with a USB-C connector. It may also come with a Fast Charge feature, meaning it may only take 30 mins to fully charge your Kindle compared to 1 ½ hours currently.

Generally, I try to avoid using Fast Charging on all mobile devices for a several reason. If you’d like to know more, I wrote a piece on why you should avoid using Fast Charging on ereaders.  

Faster Processor

The Kindle range has been stuck with a low power 1GHz processor since 2012 when Amazon released the Paperwhite 2. But today you can buy a $40 Raspberry Pi 4 hobby kit which boasts an impressive 1.5GHz processor.

While processing power has not been a major issue for Kindle users, we could see the latest Paperwhite incarnation being supped-up with a faster yet cheaper core, making the devices response time even quicker.

Auto-rotating page orientation

Auto-rotation is currently only available on the premium Kindle Oasis.

Whilst it’s a nice feature to have when viewing PDF’s, there is not but benefit to be had while reading an ebook. Which is why I believe auto-rotation will only remain on the Kindle Oasis for the time being.

Larger Battery Capacity

Under the hood, the Kindle Paperwhite has a 1500mAH battery. That may sound large but when you compare this to the Samsung S21 which holds 4000mAH, the Paperwhite has half the capacity.

It’s true that mobile devices perform much more complex tasks and therefore require a larger battery size so this is not an apples to apples comparison. But with battery technologies improving all the time we could see the latest Kindle Paperwhite 2021 released with a larger battery.

If you include processor efficiencies into the mix, you could see the latest Kindles lasting over a month with frequent use.

Kindle Color Ereader?

With manufacturers such as PocketBook, Onyx and even Sony coming out with a color ereader what are the chances we will see Amazon release a rival color e-ink? If you’d like to get my opinion, check out will we see Kindle Color in 2021?  

Summary

I’m sure there are a few more features that could have been included in the list, but these are the main ones I wanted to focus on for the Kindle Paperwhite 5.

If there are any key features you think I’ve missed that could make its way into the latest Kindle spec, feel free to mention them in the comments section below.