Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5 gets unannounced handy upgrade as the new Kindle 2022 grabs all the fanfare

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 5 e-reader was released in October 2021 and like most Kindle e-readers it has received rave reviews for its display that offers easy reading and its sterling battery life. However, one issue with the 11th-gen Kindle slate was its very meager storage allowance of 8 GB. Those who wanted to cram even more thousands of books onto their device had to consider the Kindle Paperwhite 5 Signature Edition that comes with 32 GB storage and costs US$30-50 more, depending on whether it was ad-supported or not.

While Amazon has been occupied with announcing its latest Kindle 2022 to the world, it has also pushed out a decent upgrade to the Kindle Paperwhite 5 that would have gone unnoticed to many. There is now the possibility to select between 8 GB and 16 GB of storage, which will satisfy many potential customers who would have seen 8 GB as simply too miserly for their reading habits. In addition, the price premium is not even unreasonable: The 8 GB Kindle Paperwhite 5 is still priced at US$139.99 while the 16 GB model is only US$10 more expensive at US$149.99.

Of course, there is also the Amazon Kindle 2022 (11th generation) for book lovers to consider, and it is certainly a worthwhile upgrade on the surface. Amazon has shaved off some weight so the latest model is 5.56 oz (158 g) compared to the 6.1 oz (170 g) of the Kindle 10 and the display has been improved, with the latter’s 600 x 800 + 167 PPI panel being swapped out for a 1072 x 1448 + 300 PPI unit. There is a USB-C port for charging onboard the Kindle 2022 (no more microUSB) and storage starts at 16 GB rather than 8 GB. Amazon has yet again made its Kindle range stronger in an ever-competitive e-reader market.

Order the Kindle Paperwhite 5 or Kindle 2022 on Amazon