Amazon kills older Kindles – these are the models that are affected

Amazon has confirmed that support for certain Kindle models is coming to an end, meaning those models will no longer be able to buy, borrow or download content from Kindle Store. The move will mean that some older hardware will only have limited functionality.

The official date for support to end is 20 May 2026 and from that date onwards, there will be no Kindle Store access on some models of Kindle and Kindle Fire.

Those owners affected should receive an email from Amazon detailing the changes, but also offering a discount code for those who want to buy a new model. This will allow 20% off the price of a new Kindle – while a £15 book credit will also be added to your account.

The list of device affected includes some of the old models that Amazon offers, so the company estimates that this will only affect 3% of users, who could be using a device that's as old as 18 years.

The Kindle models that will lose support were released between 14 and 18 years ago and the list is as follows:

• 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)

The Kindle Fire models impacted includes:

• Kindle Fire 1st Gen (2011)
• Kindle Fire 2nd Gen (2012)
• Kindle Fire HD 7 (2012)
• Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (2012)

While the end of support will come as a blow to a small number of owners, it's far in excess of typical smartphones and likely to be well beyond the lifespan of the average laptop.

The longevity partly comes down to the Kindle's simple approach to its task – as it's specifically for reading, the pace of change is slower than on many other types of device.

However, things have moved on and the Kindle has changed dramatically in the intervening years. Displays are larger, they all now offer front illumination to allow for easy reading in low light condition, while the designs are more refined.

The cheapest model is the Kindle (11th Generation), which is currently £74.99 on Amazon, while the model I recommend as a big user of the Kindle myself is the Paperwhite (12th generation), now £159.99 on Amazon. This has a larger screen with better lighting.

Those owners who want to keep their existing device will find that they can't download new content, but books downloaded already can still be accessed and read. There will still be access to all content through the Kindle smartphone app and on the web, too.

For owners of Kindle Fire tablets, it's only the Kindle functionality that's affected, other Amazon services will continue to be available.

As I said – all those affected should receive an email informing them of the changes, along with the details of the discount code.