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Amazon is to stop supporting older Kindle models leaving longtime ebook fans unable to access new content from the Kindle store.
Devices released during or before 2012 will no longer receive updates from 20 May, affecting owners of older Kindles, including the earliest models such as the Touch and some Fire tablets. It is thought that 2m e-readers could be affected.
Users will still be able to read ebooks they have downloaded, and their accounts and their Kindle library will remain accessible on mobile and desktop apps. Active users have been offered discounts to help “transition to newer devices”. Amazon said performing a factory reset on affected Kindles would make them unusable.
Disappointed users have vented their frustration online, including in comments on The Verge, accusing Amazon of “causing waste at a large scale” and saying their devices would be reduced to a paperweight despite still working.
The affected models are:
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Kindle: Kindle 1st generation (2007), Kindle DX and DX Graphite (2009 and 2010), Kindle Keyboard (2010), Kindle 4 (2011), Kindle Touch (2011), Kindle 5 (2012) and Kindle Paperwhite 1st generation (2012).
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Kindle Fire: Kindle Fire 1st generation (2011), Kindle Fire 2nd generation (2012), Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012), Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012).
Ugo Vallauri, of the Restart Project in Brixton, south London, which encourages repair of electronics, told the BBC that manufacturers often promised newer devices offering better performance when ceasing support for older products but this was “hardly a good reason for soft-bricking millions of still-functioning devices”.
He said although the change was expected to affect only 3% of users, “this could amount to 2m devices rendered obsolete according to some estimates, potentially generating over 624 tons of e-waste”.
Paolo Pescatore, a tech industry analyst, said the decision was “understandable from a security and support perspective”.
“The challenge is that these devices were built for a different era and are not equipped to run newer, more data-hungry services and features,” he told the BBC, adding that “ageing hardware” could also pose problems.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “Starting 20 May 2026, customers using Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier will no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle store.
“These models have been supported for at least 14 years – some as long as 18 years – but technology has come a long way in that time, and these devices will no longer be supported moving forward.”
