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I'm 99% positive that there are "different grades" of e-ink displays.
Any engineering / manufacturing process will have variance in consistency. Quality can vary batch-to-batch or even device-to-device.
For example, when you buy resistors, you can buy them at 10%, 5%, 1%, 0.1% tolerances. They don't deliberately "make" them at these different tolerances, they just make 50 ohm resistors. Then they test them. The ones that test at 50.01 ohms go in the 0.1% box. The ones that test 55 ohms go in the 10% box. Then they charge more for the ones that are "better."
Manufactures have two choices: first, throw out all the components that aren't within ideal tolerances. That's very wasteful and expensive, but it gives you high reliability when buying, and it's what they do when making Ferraris and Tissot watches.
Kindles are not Ferraris or Tissot watches. An electronic device priced around $100 is certainly going to cut corners somewhere. Amazon cut corners by buying cheaper e-ink displays. Most of their customers will never notice, and many of those who do will not want to take the time and effort to send it back.
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