A clearer screen, at the cost of the frontlight
PalmRead launched its flagship iReader Air 3 Pro in mainland China on August 6, 2026. Its most unusual trade-off is the complete removal of the built-in frontlight: without the light guide layer, the e-paper sits closer to your eyes and reads more like real paper, but it also means you need ambient light to read in the dark.
The panel is an 8.2-inch E Ink Carta 1300 at 300 PPI, with a quoted refresh rate up to 50 fps and a "micron-level lamination" process for higher transparency and contrast. The body is about 5.4mm thin and 270g, wrapped in a CNC-milled metal frame.
Open system, huge expansion
Physical page-turn buttons sit on the bezel, and an electromagnetic stylus ships in the box for annotating PDFs and e-books directly. Under the hood is an 8-core CPU with a dedicated microSD slot up to 2TB. It runs Android-based SmartOS (no Google Play), but users can sideload their own apps. The launch price is ¥2,699, and it is on sale across channels.
For readers who want a paper-like feel plus handwriting and aren't boxed in by fixed storage, the Air 3 Pro is one of the few high-spec frontlight-free options — the trade being a desk lamp for nighttime reading.
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