I tested two of the new 2024 Kindles, and this is the one you absolutely should buy

I’ve owned a few Amazon Kindle devices over the years. Generally, each one is the same: a small e-ink tablet with the most basic of features needed to buy an e-book and then read it. Sure, I know you can do a lot more with a Kindle, like listen to audiobooks, browse the web, and even play games, but come on: I would use my Android phone for any of those things. Because I treat a Kindle as a way to look at text and nothing else, I’ve never thought much about upgrading from my current Kindle Paperwhite 4 from 2018.

However, I had the chance to try out two of the 2024 Kindle models — the 2024 Amazon Kindle (11th gen) and the 2024 Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 6 (12th gen) — and I have changed my mind. At this point, pretty much every Kindle owner should upgrade this year by splurging on the newest Paperwhite.

These are not reinventions, but that doesn’t matter

At first glance, when you compare them to their previous iterations, there don’t appear to be many upgrades for the 2024 Amazon Kindle (11th gen) and the 2024 Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 6 (12th gen). This is especially true for the standard Kindle: Amazon increased the brightness and contrast compared to the 2022 iteration, making reading easier on the eyes (especially for longer sessions), and that’s about it. While those are small changes, you might come to appreciate them quite a bit in the long term, so they’re not insignificant.

Meanwhile, the 2024 Kindle Paperwhite has several notable upgrades. Its display is slightly bigger (7-inch vs. 6.8-inch), its battery is bigger (1,900mAh vs. 1,700mAh), and it comes with 16GB of internal storage as standard, as opposed to the 2021 Paperwhite, which had an 8GB model at the bottom tier (since discontinued). It also has the increased brightness/contrast of the vanilla Kindle.

Most notably for both models, though, Amazon upgraded the software, making them considerably less laggy. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t willingly disclose details on the processors inside Kindles, so I can’t tell you if they’ve been upgraded alongside the software tweaks, but I can guarantee you that whatever Amazon has done with the software and hardware results in a much zippier and smoother user experience.

The bottom line here is that both Kindles are better than their most recent predecessors, but I found the Paperwhite model to be substantially better. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Amazon Kindle (2024) review

Honestly, there’s not much to say about the 2024 Kindle. It is physically identical to the 2022 iteration — it is even of the same 11th generation build, so their similarities are intentional. This year’s version has the same core specs as the 2022 version: a 6-inch display with a 1,448 x 1,072 resolution and a pixel density of 300ppi, 16GB of non-expandable internal storage, a 1,040mAh battery, and a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. Outside of the new software, better contrast, and higher brightness, it’s literally the same product.

That being said, people tend to keep their Kindles for a really long time. If you’ve got a 10th-generation Kindle (the one that launched in 2019), the 2024 Kindle will be a decent upgrade. If you have any Kindle launched before 2019, then it will be like night and day jumping to this new model because you’d still be using a device with half the display resolution, a Micro-USB port, and a measly amount of internal storage. But if you have the Kindle from 2022, there’s no reason to abandon it for this one, as it’s more a sidegrade than anything else.

I suppose it is worth mentioning that the new Kindle comes in a new fun color: Matcha. There’s also your standard black, of course, but the Matcha colorway (shown throughout this article) is pretty eye-catching.

Basically, if you have an ancient Kindle (or don’t yet own one) and want a reasonably cheap, small, and light e-reader, this is a great choice. But if you already own a recent Kindle or are OK spending a bit more to get something exceptional, I highly recommend grabbing the new Paperwhite instead. Speaking of…

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review

In the Kindle family, nothing compares to the Paperwhite (despite the now-discontinued Kindle Oasis once being a solid alternative). There are some exceptions here. If you want to write on your Kindle, you would like the new Scribe ($419.99 at Amazon). If you want something with a color display, you want the new Colorsoft Signature Edition ($279.99 at Amazon), but be mindful of its issues. But if you just want to read on a paper-like display, there is nothing better than a Paperwhite — and the 2024 Paperwhite is the best yet.

I’ve already mentioned the upgrades in display size, contrast, brightness, battery capacity, and entry-tier storage, but the user experience is where the Kindle Paperwhite (2024) really shines. Myself, I’ve been using the Kindle Paperwhite 5 for the longest time, and I’ve been pretty happy with it. But honestly, I can’t go back to it after using the 2024 model now — it’s that much better.

Even the little details, like the page-turning animation, are better on this new Kindle. Opening books is faster, scrolling through my library is far smoother, and changing settings around doesn’t take nearly as much time as it does on the older Paperwhite. Because I’ve been using this older version, it feels like Amazon has created something wholly new with the 2024 Paperwhite.

That all being said, my partner has the 2021 Paperwhite, and I’ll readily admit that the jump between that and the 2024 model is much more subtle. Still, with the aforementioned size and hardware upgrades along with the zippier user experience, the 2024 Paperwhite is still a worthy upgrade, even if you’re using the 2021 model.

Even the colors are just a little bit better this year. Once again, you always have a black model, but the Metallic Jade (seen throughout this article) is a ton of fun, and I’ve heard raves about the Metallic Raspberry, which is a sleek-looking pink version.

Kindle vs Kindle Paperwhite (2024): It’s obvious which one you should buy

After using both the Kindle (2024) and the Kindle Paperwhite (2024), there is no question in my mind that everyone reading this should splurge on the Paperwhite. Yes, it’s more expensive — the cheapest 2024 Amazon Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99 at Amazon) is roughly $50 more than the standard Kindle, which is a sizable increase when you consider the ad-supported version of the 2024 Kindle ($109.99 at Amazon) has a list price of $109. But isn’t $50 extra a pretty low bar for getting the best of the best?

Also, remember what I said earlier about people holding onto Kindles for a long, long time. Why not spend a little bit more upfront and know that you are getting the best standard e-reader in the 2024 Kindle portfolio? Judging by how long Kindles last (and how slowly Amazon updates them), it might be 2030 or later before you’d even think about upgrading. If you average it out, an ad-supported Paperwhite would only be about $27 per year of use, which isn’t bad at all.

Even if you decide against the newest Paperwhite, the existence of this 2024 model will make the 2021 Paperwhite cheaper from third-party sources. If you are on a strict budget and can find a decent deal on a 2021 model, I would snatch that up instead of going with the 2024 standard Kindle, considering how little of it changed this year.

The bottom line here is that anyone reading this who wants a new Kindle for whatever reason should want the new Paperwhite. Accept no substitutes.