Amazon has quietly reduced the price of the Kindle Paperwhite to $134.99, a $25 drop from its $159.99 list price. Whether you’re shopping now for last-minute gifts or grabbing one for yourself because several consecutive days of being cooped up with your family can make that teleprompter app on your phone seem like a really great idea, the Paperwhite’s 16 percent discount brings an extremely popular e-reader into easy gift-giving distance, and depending on delivery slots at checkout, it could still reach most ZIP codes before Christmas.
Why This Paperwhite Deal Is So Good Right Now
While we’ve seen it go lower during larger shopping events, $134.99 is the lowest we’ve seen the Paperwhite outside of those and a price that seldom lasts long once stock gets low.
This sale usually pertains to the ad-supported 8GB model, which is a nice middle-of-the-road size for most readers; if you strongly dislike lockscreen ads, you can pay a little extra in your account after purchase to get rid of them and have a clean experience.
The value proposition here is pretty straightforward: Drop down to $25 off and upgrade to a display and feature set I, we (collectively, the reviewers of pretty much every product), Consumer Reports or any other testing lab still tend to recommend over cheaper models for long-form reading. If you care about screen comfort, waterproofing and battery life, that’s the tier at which those upgrades start to actually become significant.
Important Features That Matter To Readers
- Readability: The Paperwhite boasts a 6.8-inch, 300 ppi E Ink touchscreen display designed to look like paper and includes 17 LEDs for adjustable warm light you can use at night in order to dial down blue tones. Page turns are less frequent, and the typography is cleaner at the same sharp pixel density compared with the tiny canvas (6 inches) of the basic Kindle.
- Waterproofing: An IPX8 rating means your reader won’t be killed by the occasional accidental swim, whether that’s a tub oversight or a poolside splash. It’s a useful safety net for heavy travelers, or those of you who love to pop the e-reader in a beach bag.
- Battery and charging: Amazon advertises the Paperwhite for weeks of reading on a charge, and real-world tests usually yield multiple novels per charge depending on brightness and wireless use. USB-C ensures topping up is painless and compatible with today’s chargers.
- Speed and comfort: Page turning, as well as UI navigation, was significantly snappier compared with older generations. The flush-front styling is easy to hold, and it boasts some of the best lighting uniformity we’ve seen for a reader in this price class, which will result in less eyestrain than tablets in dim rooms.
- Library and services: If you borrow e-books, the Paperwhite plays nice with U.S. public libraries through syncing with Libby/OverDrive’s “Send to Kindle.” There were a record-shattering 600M+ digital checkouts from OverDrive last year.
Price Context and Competitors in E-Readers
Priced at full price, the Paperwhite is positioned between the entry Kindle and high-end models. The base Kindle offers great text quality for less, but lacks waterproofing and the bigger screen. At the other end, the Paperwhite Signature Edition gains auto-adjusting front light, wireless charging and more storage, though value seekers will find today’s $134.99 Paperwhite strikes a better balance between performance and price.
Rival e-readers from Kobo and others have their own ecosystems, as well as some with native library browsing. But the scope of the Kindle Store, the choice to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and easy access to a wealth of discounted titles means Amazon’s model continues to win out with most U.S. consumers. Even as tablets have plateaued, there’s still strong support for e-readers in Circana’s category snapshots, where the Paperwhite line perennially stands out as a solid recommendation for reading purists.
Pre-Christmas Buying Tips for Kindle Paperwhite
- Find the delivery estimate in your cart — it may vary by region and quick slots can fill up. If you can’t secure a guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery window, this is still a good price to lock in if you’re giving the gift a day or two after anyway.
- Decide if you are willing to pay for an ad-free experience. The discount usually is toward the ad-supported model; you can pay to remove ads later if you regret it. A fabric or protective case is a smart add-on (especially if your device will reside in a bag and/or lead a poolside life).
Bottom line: For $134.99, the Kindle Paperwhite’s combination of a sharp 6.8-inch screen, adjustable warm lighting, IPX8 waterproofing and marathon battery life is tough to beat. If you were looking for a just-right price before Christmas, this is it — good value without scrimping on those features most important to serious readers.
