Planned obsolescence has been a major thing in the consumer tech world for basically forever. As tech advances, old tech either stops working, or more likely, stops working with the network or whatever. I’m no scientist. But tech companies want to keep making money, of course, so they will also plan for their devices to stop functioning after a period of time so you have to buy new ones. It’s capitalism, innit? Well, now you can add various old Kindle devices to that list as Amazon has announced Kindles older than 2013 will no longer have access to support or new books.
From PCMag, we learned of this cut-off, which will go into effect next month. Amazon told the site: “Starting May 20, 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.”
Now, the good news is the devices will still work, they won’t just stop functioning. But if you don’t have all the books you want on it before May 20, you won’t get to put more on it. Amazon went on to say, “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.”
“If you deregister or factory reset these devices, you will not be able to re-register or use these devices in any way.” The company does plan to email all affected users and offer 20% off discounts on new models. Gotta still make money, of course. But yeah, if you have an old Kindle, it’ll soon go in the bin…dle.
Now as for why this is happening… one customer thinks they have it pegged.
Given how many ads are on Prime Video and other Amazon services you already pay for, it doesn’t sound that weird. So get ready for ads for dog food every few pages of your extreme horror novel.
The models impacted are:
- 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)
- Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation(2012)
- Kindle Fire Tablets: Kindle Fire 1st Gen (2011)
- Kindle Fire 2nd Gen (2012)
- Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012)
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012)
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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