Kobo has increased the price of three of its e-readers following a similar price increase by the company in January 2023. The seven-inch Kobo Libra Colour, as well as the six-inch Kobo Clara Colour and Kobo Clara BW, are all now $10 more expensive, as spotted by TheeBookReader. The prices of the larger (and aging) Kobo Elipsa 2E and Kobo Sage were not affected.
The price increase doesn’t appear to be related to recently announced tariffs or any effects they may have on the cost of Kobo’s e-readers in the US and Canada.
With the increase, the Kobo Libra Colour is now $229.99, which is still $50 cheaper than Amazon’s $279.99 Kindle Colorsoft. Both devices use the same E Ink color screen technology, although Amazon customized it for the Colorsoft to improve vibrancy and color accuracy. But the Kobo Libra Colour also features stylus support for highlighting text and note-taking, includes page turn buttons, and makes it slightly easier to sideload content like ebooks and PDFs sourced from outside Kobo’s ebook store.
At $159.99, the Kobo Clara Colour also remains a cheaper alternative to the Kindle Colorsoft for those wanting an e-reader with a color screen, or for consumers wanting to avoid Amazon altogether.
But the $139.99 Kobo Clara BW is a tougher sell. It’s now $30 more expensive than the $109.99 base-model Kindle, and although the Clara BW offers upgrades like waterproofing, consumers looking for a cheap e-reader with access to a robust ebook store are better off opting for Amazon’s entry-level offering. The price increase also means there’s now only a $20 difference between the Clara BW and the $159.99 basic Kindle Paperwhite, which offers a larger seven-inch display and noticeably better build quality with a flush-mounted screen.
