Amazon allegedly canceling Kindle Colorsoft shipments until after Thanksgiving

Kindle Colorsoft
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

In mid-October, Amazon introduced four new Kindles, including the company's first-ever e-reader with a color display on Colorsoft. As we go into November, devices are supposed to be getting into people's hands, but suddenly, they are encountering problems.

Earlier today, it was reported that new Colorsoft owners are reporting a strange yellow strip on the display. An Amazon spokesperson told The Verge that it was aware of the yellow issue and is looking into it.

The folks over at Good e-Reader are reporting that Amazon is "canceling" shipments of the Colorsoft, at least until after November 26. According to their report, the delay could be through November 18 in the United States and November 26 in the UK. 

Supposedly, Amazon is holding any pre-ordered Kindle Colorsoft e-readers in warehouses due to the yellow stripe on the display. Purportedly, Amazon is working on a software update, or that is, Good e-Reader is claiming Amazon has told customers. 

We are taking this report with a grain of salt, as they did not provide any sources or quotes from anyone who has dealt with Amazon reaching out to them about their orders or the display issues. It's unclear where the information is coming from.

Tom's Guide has contacted Amazon to confirm that shipments are being paused and to comment on the yellow stripe claims. We will update this story if Amazon responds. 

Here is what we do know regarding the Colorsoft display. According to customer complaints, some people see a yellow bar on the bottom of their display, which Amazon is aware of. Supposedly, turning off the e-reader and leaving it off for a few minutes before restarting the Kindle might resolve the yellow bar issue.

 In our review, we did not notice a yellowing on the Colorsoft that we used. We found the newest Kindle, which was so good that it immediately made our best e-readers list.

Otherwise, one annoyance is that the Kindle Colorsoft does not have Dark Mode, which Amazon acknowledges on the Colorsoft store page. "Dark Mode is currently not available on this device. Customers can enable a similar reading experience within millions of books using the Page Color feature, which, like Dark Mode, inverts the book page color to black and the book text color to white." 

It's not quite the same.

If your order has been canceled or pushed out to a future November date, please contact us and share your experience. 

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Scott Younker
West Coast Reporter

Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. 

  • AL86
    I get the distinct impression it affects nearly 100% of the Colorsoft they shipped, to some degree. Even the replacements people are getting are affected, and the quality/character of the display itself varies widely. I wrote a single one-star review on Bestbuy.com – the only one that was up for the entire time it was being sold at BB – and Best Buy no longer sells the Colorsoft as of today.

    Amazon reallllllly screwed up here.
    Reply