Amazon will unveil an “all-new, top of the line Kindle” reader next week

(credit: Jeff Bezos via Twitter)

Amazon has been focusing its efforts on the tablet, TV, phone, and digital personal assistant markets for the last few years, but the company has never forgotten its quietly competent lineup of dedicated Kindle e-readers. Today, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took some time off from running his newspaper and shooting things into space to announce that there will be an "all-new, top of the line" eighth-generation Kindle announced next week. Consider this an announcement of the announcement.

Amazon's current flagship Kindle is the Kindle Voyage, a very nice but very expensive $200 gadget with an auto-brightness sensor and a tablet-y design. The new model will presumably replace the Voyage instead of the more sensible $120 Kindle Paperwhite, but we'll have to wait until next week to hear more details and news about pricing and availability.

If you want a good dedicated e-reader and don't really care about having the latest and greatest features, Amazon is currently offering big discounts on current-generation Kindles for Amazon Prime members. The $200 Voyage is being offered for $150, the $120 Paperwhite is being sold for $90, and the $80 standard Kindle is being sold for $50.