As someone who has been covering the handheld gaming market since 2021, I can’t tell you the dread that comes with an Ayaneo announcement. The company is known for its premium-level Windows handhelds, like the recently released Ayaneo 3. It’s also known for its endless stream of hardware. Seriously, at every turn, it seems like they’re gearing up for a new bit of kit, and yesterday’s announcement is no different.
I was going to try to summarize it in a sentence, but it’s genuinely quite difficult to. There’s a lot. Phones, mini PCs, a “mini laptop”, and an entirely new brand of gear. So, rather than you having to sift through multiple reports, here’s everything that Ayaneo teased, showed, and announced.
Ayaneo is making a phone like the Xperia Play
Ayaneo describes this as an “unexpected surprise”, and it’s quite accurate. The company is clearly branching out more and more into the Android handheld space, with four of the announcements not including the phone focusing on it.
As with a couple of the announcements from the presentation, Ayaneo didn’t show anything of the hardware itself. Instead, it’s just a vague idea of what could be coming, and that includes a sliding mechanism. Xperia Play, is that you?
If you don’t remember, Sony launched the Xperia Play back in 2011. It was an early Android device that had a sliding screen revealing two thumb pads and traditional PlayStation controls. It made for an excellent emulation device for the time, and even came with some cross-platform games until Sony shut down the service in 2015.
Ayaneo has probably been working on the device for some time, but it doesn’t stop other companies from having similar ideas. A non-phone, sliding device released by Anbernic, another handheld maker, launched the RG Slide this year. Maybe we’re about to see the return to the T-Mobile Sidekick or HTC Dream era of devices. Everything is so swipey these days.
The need for the Nintendo DS is stronger than ever
It might surprise you to know that the Nintendo DS is one of the more awkward devices to emulate. Its dual touch screen nature can make some devices where games are totally playable, unplayable, simply down to the general lack of DS-ness. Seriously, the best experience I’ve had in recent months with this is playing on my iPad with the Apple Pencil.
However, Ayaneo has already attempted this a couple of times now. The Windows PC handheld, the Ayaneo Flip DS, came with two screens, and for those who used it, it seemed to do the trick. Now, it’s trying again, but in the Android flavor this time.
The Ayaneo Pocket DS features a bigger pair of screens and is aimed at “retro dual-screen enthusiasts”. That’s mangled marketing speak for “We know you’re just going to play Hotel Dusk on this thing.”
It’ll presumably push the upper bounds in terms of cost, but that’s because it’s coming with a “flagship” Qualcomm processor, an OLED screen, and a “retro 4:3 ratio secondary screen”. There are more details coming, but honestly, this is one of the more exciting developments from the handheld scene in recent months.
Another, more budget-friendly device, the Magicx Zero 40, launched recently. This also has a focus on the DS, but instead of providing dual screens is simply one long touchscreen. It’s significantly cheaper than what I’d anticipate Ayaneo will price the Pocket DS at, but I’d also expect to see the 3DS functioning just fine based on what I’ve used of Qualcomm’s recent chips.
Mini PCs (and laptop) galore
Another area that Ayaneo has found itself in is the mini PC market. As their handhelds are typically just mini PCs in a different format, it makes sense. The first couple weren’t overtly impressive, but made for decent boxes to throw older games on.
The AM01S is an upgraded reissue of the first mini PC, and comes with the new trend for a few Chinese PC makers to add a screen to the device. I don’t know why, but hey, innovate where you can, right? AOOSTAR did this earlier this year, and then Ayaneo with its second mini PC’s gimmick of the screen. This time, the AM01S has a flip screen and will even come in a B.Duck-themed version.
Ayaneo is also upgrading the internals to the more recent Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 line of chips, which has a much-needed upgrade to the onboard graphics. It’s what can be found in their Ayaneo 3, and is presumably adjacent to the Z2 Extreme that we can expect from devices like the Lenovo Legion Go 2 or Xbox ROG Ally later this year.
There’s also going to be versions with the Ryzen 8000 series inside, but I’d steer away from these, personally. Rather than a direct upgrade from the Ryzen 7000 series, which were seen in a large quantity of alternatives to the Steam Deck, it’s like a slide to the right. More capabilities for AI stuff and a bit more stable, but still packing the same graphics and power as its predecessors.
Of course, Ayaneo wouldn’t be Ayaneo without at least one upgrade in the works. The AM03 is being positioned as their flagship mini PC. There are no announced specs for it, but I’d guess that it’ll aim for the upper echelons of AMD’s new Ryzen AI chips, something we’re expecting to see in the Next 2.
There was also a tease of a laptop-like device, but the press release is a little confusing. It keeps referring to it as a “flip phone device” with a “full-size keyboard”. I think they’re trying to say it’ll be in the form factor of a flip phone, but I’m imagining something closer to GPD Win’s mini laptop devices.
Ayaneo Next 2 is going to be ridiculous
Ayaneo Next 2 is the company’s next flagship handheld. They’ve announced that it’ll have AMD’s high-end Strix Halo chip, the Ryzen AI 9 395+, which comes with the graphics unit, Radeon 8060S. For an immediate comparison, the 8060S has been compared to the RTX 4070 from Nvidia. It’s just embedded into the unit, rather than an entire extra piece of hardware.
If those numbers and words confused you, it’s very, very good.
I don’t know how they’re going to manage this, because Ayaneo’s handhelds are known for getting toasty. Packing in that amount of power, with that fat battery, is going to result in some high temperatures for sure.
The reason we’ve not seen the top-end Ryzen AI 9 HX 395+ in handhelds so far is that it’s not exactly made for that. This is the chip that companies like Framework are launching entire desktops around. The graphics unit onboard is ridiculous for the form factor, and competing company, GPD Win, is having to launch its device packing the same chip without a battery. You’ll have to plug it into the wall, like a child in the womb.
Ayaneo, however, is packing in an 80-watt-hour battery, two chunky dual fans, and two SSD drives inside. Once you see the pieces in the images, you can see why Valve isn’t jumping to make a Steam Deck 2 with similar specs any time soon.
Let’s get vertical with the Pocket Vert
Another teaser, but the smaller-scale Android devices from Ayaneo are gaining some traction. It’s released a Game Boy Micro clone, as well as a more all-around Pocket devices. With Retroid launching the Classic, Analogue Pocket taking the boutique side, and TrimUI and Miyoo cornering the entry-level arena, there’s always room for another option.
Ayaneo’s “Pocket Vert”, again, has no specs, date, or price attached, but we do get a little tease of the “ultra-high-res display”. We’ll see how true the “collectible handheld artwork” description is when they finally unveil it.
The Ayaneo Gaming Pad is still on the way
Ayaneo basically said not to worry and that its Gaming Pad is still on the way. They did give us a closer look at their clip-on controller, too, coming in a lovely burnt orange.
Announced back in March, the Gaming Pad is Ayaneo’s Qualcomm Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 tablet-like device. The 8.3-inch tablet will run Android and is aimed at mobile gaming more than anything else. The oodles of gacha games and surprisingly large mobile gaming audience for things like Call of Duty, PUBG, Fortnite, and Roblox should lap this one up (if the price is right).
KONKR is a new “ultra cost-effective” lineup, whatever that means
In development “for over a year”, KONKR is Ayaneo’s new sub-brand that’ll be targeting a “cost-effective” market. Considering the prices of Ayaneo’s products so far, I’ll wait before anything to see how cost-effective this will be.
So far, there are only two devices announced for the KONKR brand, with an Android handheld powered, again, by Qualcomm and a Windows-based device. The Android handheld will be KONKR Pocket Fit, while the KONKR Fit will be the Windows handheld, which is smaller than the Asus ROG Ally X and features an 80-watt-hour battery.
We’ll see more of it on July 30, and the Pocket Fit will be at ChinaJoy 2025.
Code R-1 is Ayaneo’s budget brand
This is where the term “cost-effective” should have gone, really. Ayaneo’s Code R-1 is their new “entry level series” of hardware, with constant reassurances that it’ll meet the same quality and “high standards” as the rest of its massive roster. Again, no specs, no date or price attached, but a small tease of the device is shown.
That’s everything Ayaneo announced, and there’s still more on the way. Once they’ve cleared their slate and some people have had a hands-on at the ChinaJoy event, I’m sure I’ll be back to break it down again.
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