- The Boox Picco has been shown off at IFA 2026
- It doesn't run Android or have magnets
- However, it does at least have a USB-C port
Boox is perhaps the most well-known alternative to Kindle and Kobo, and notably, its Android-powered ereaders don’t lock you into a specific ecosystem. Now, Boox looks set to rival Xteink too, with a new ereader that’s truly tiny.
We’re talking about the Boox Picco, an ereader first teased around six weeks ago that has now been shown off at IFA 2026, complete with far more details than had previously been revealed.
The Boox Picco has a 3.97-inch e-paper touchscreen, physical page-turn buttons (which can be customized to do something else if you prefer), a front light, a microSD card slot, and a USB-C port.
What it doesn’t have, though, is Android, as unlike Boox’s larger ereaders, this device runs a Linux-based operating system, meaning you presumably won’t have access to major apps like the Kindle and Kobo apps.
That means — as with rival devices like the Xteink X4 Pro — you’ll likely have to sideload books and may struggle to get some books running on the device if they have DRM.
Still, Android Police went hands-on with the device and claims the software is promising, complete with a reading stats page, a Pomodoro timer, and a handful of other built-in apps. It also provides several ways to get books onto the Picco, including via a microSD card, USB-C, the cloud, or a local LAN network.
And there are upsides to the Boox Picco skipping Android — its software will be simpler in some ways, and the device could have better battery life than Android-powered alternatives. Still, I’ve really been hoping for a tiny ereader with Android included, so while the lack of Android still leaves this device in line with its main competition, it’s a disappointment to me.
'No' to magnets but 'yes' to USB-C
The Boox Picco also lacks something that the Xteink line has — magnets. This won’t matter to everyone, but if you’re hoping for an ereader you can magnetically attach to the back of your phone, this isn’t it.
But the inclusion of a USB-C port is appreciated, considering the Xteink X4 Pro uses a proprietary charging port.
So this could give the Xteink line a run for its money — at least among people who don’t care about magnets. But a lot will come down to price, which remains unclear. Good Ereader reports that the Picco will cost around $100 (roughly £75 / AU$140), but various sites that went hands-on with the device say the price hasn’t been revealed yet, and instead, some speculate that it will hopefully be priced at around that, so Good Ereader may just have misread their reporting.
The Xteink X4 Pro itself is priced at around that level though, so it would certainly make sense for Boox to aim for something similar. We should find out by November at the latest, as that’s when the Boox Picco is set to begin shipping.
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