Kobo has released its first generation of colour e-readers a couple of months ago. They initially ordered one million units of the Clara Colour and Libra Colour. The upstream supply chain can easily handle two additional million units to meet potential customer demand. Customers seem to be embracing the  7-inch Kobo Libra Colour compared to the  6-inch Kobo Clara Colour. The initial shipping ratio between the two was approximately 3:2, meaning consumers prefer the larger device.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a strong track record in the tech industry, disclosed in a recent report “Due to better-than-expected first-wave sales, Kobo will accelerate its plan to launch a larger colour e-reader using E Ink’s 10.3-inch Kaleido and expects to launch it before the end of 2024 at the earliest if the panel and assembly capacity can meet the rush order demand.”

The new 10.3 model he refers to will likely be an upcoming Elipsa Colour, a large-screen e-notebook and e-reader. This will finally allow the average user and business customers to freehand draw, take notes, make annotations in ebooks, and sign PDF files. Kobo would be the world’s largest and most well-funded company to offer a large-screen Kaleido 3 e-paper device. It would be sold online through their worldwide distribution network bookstores and big box retailers. This Elipsa model will have 300 PPI for black and white and 150 for colour.

Ming-Chi Kuo also speculated that ‘If solid demand continues for a few months, Kobo could add new product lines of higher-end colour e-readers (using E Ink’s Gallery, which has better contrast than Kaleido) and stop supplying monochrome e-readers in 2025.’ Gallery 3 represents the pinnacle of colour e-paper technology since it can display over 50,000 colours vs. Kaleido 3, which can only handle less than 5,000.