What does Barnes and Noble NOOK have planned for 2026?

Barnes and Noble rarely releases new e-readers or tablets. They did not release anything new in 2025, aside from a new paint job for the aging NOOK Glowlight 4 in Ocean Teal. This is the same e-reader that came out in 2021. The NOOK Glowlight 4 Plus came out in 2023, and their Lenovo tablets were issued in early 2024. What does the bookseller have planned for 2026, and can we expect anything new? Hardware Jennifer Perry is the new head of NOOK e-readers and digital services and took over in 2025. She recently conducted an online interview and dropped a huge bombshell: Barnes & Noble will release two new e-readers in 2026. These new NOOK e-readers will likely not only read e-books but also listen to audiobooks. The only NOOK that can handle this right now is the NOOK Glowlight 4 Plus. Audiobooks are a top priority for B&N, and they want to increase accessibility. Jennifer did not go into details about what the new NOOK hardware will bring to the table. However, before discussing the e-readers, she mentioned that there is a future in color and the ability to do markup. So, the Glowlight 5 and NOOK Glowlight 5 Plus may come out in 2026. One of these models may have a WACOM screen and the ability to take notes. A dedicated e-notebook would require a ton of work on the software side to create a robust drawing system and to support PDF editing. I do not believe the NOOK division has sufficient experience or manpower to build a notebook system from scratch. An e-reader with a color screen is extremely possible, since they are the only ones that have never embraced color e-paper, whereas their competitors, Amazon and Kobo, have had it for years. Software In 2025, Barnes & Noble updated its NOOK app for iPhone and iPad. When viewing an audiobook or e-book, there is a new button called ‘buy on BN.com’ and clicking on it redirects customers to the product listing on their website to complete the purchase, and then the app will be updated with the new content and also synced to any existing NOOK e-reader or NOOK tablet. The redirection allows customers to easily buy e-books within the app by opening the default browser, such as Safari, to complete the purchase. Before this app update, there was no button, so users on iOS just thought they couldn’t buy any e-books in the app, leaving them confused about how to complete the purchase. Now it is far easier and more intuitive. B & N did this to keep pace with Amazon and Kobo, which implemented similar systems within a few months of each other. Barnes and Noble rarely issues new firmware updates for the NOOK e-reader and does not have an online changelog of new features, bug fixes, or enhancements. This makes it hard for news agencies to write about it. Only existing NOOK owners get the news. When a software update is issued,...

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