What new e-readers will Kobo release in 2026?

Over the course of 2025, it was a quiet year for Rakuten Kobo. They did not release any new e-readers or e-notes, the last refresh they did was in early 2024, with the advent of their first color e-readers, the Clara Colour and Libra Colour, in addition to the Clara BW. The company did some minor refreshes this year, adding in a larger battery with some models, but that is about it. What new devices will Kobo release in 2026? Typically Kobo is on a couple of years release cycle, since E INK technology rarely changes and there is only so much a company could do to set themselves apart from the competition. I think it is very likely they will release a new Elipsa with a color screen in order to compete against the Remarkable Paper Pro Move, and the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. There is an obvious demand for drawing, taking notes and editing PDF files in full color. This is something that Kobo hasn’t really done before in their largest screen devices and would make the most sense. Kobo has made it clear to their users and their internal development team that the future is color e-readers and they will likely release the Kobo Libra 2 Colour, Kobo Clara Colour 2 and the Kobo BW 2. These devices will continue to use the Kaleido 3 e-paper technology, but might make some changes to the color filter array so the overall displays are less muted. Obviously, they will have larger batteries and faster processors, but the internals, such as RAM will remain the same. There has been no noise in the e-paper industry about the next generation E INK technology, such as Carta 1400, Kaleido 4 or Gallery 4. This is something that E INK has been working on for sometime and there will likely be closed demo sessions at CES and SID Displayweek 2026, new tech would likely be available in 2027, since it takes time for enough panels to be made, waveform controllers optimized and software enhancements to get the most out of the new tech. With this in mind, it is likely Kobo will release new products in April or May of 2026. Michael Kozlowski has written about audiobooks, e-books and e-readers for the past eighteen years. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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