Ayaneo 3 is the company’s next flagship gaming handheld, and it's powered by AI
Ayaneo 3 is the company’s next flagship gaming handheld, and it's powered by AI
Ayaneo has consistently delivered game-changing handhelds, but this looks set to take the crown
⚡ The Ayaneo 3 offers lots of power for a gaming handheld
🖥️ You can choose between a 7-inch, high-refresh rate LCD or HDR OLED display
🤔 Choice of either an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U or Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor
👍 Redesigned back buttons promise improved ergonomics
Ayaneo has teased its latest flagship gaming handheld, the Ayaneo 3 – and it looks very tempting. Players will have a range of specs to choose from to build their ultimate gaming machine. The two biggest spec choices teased were the option to choose between a high-resolution, high-refresh-rate 7-inch LCD or OLED display, and between an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U or Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor.
Ever since the mobile gaming industry exploded during the pandemic, Ayaneo, and other companies like it have been trying to capitalize on the $100 billion plus industry. Ayaneo differentiates itself by offering a range of gaming handsets with something for every type of gamer. The Pocket series devices run Android and offer emulator support, while its retro-themed devices will tap into your nostalgia.
The company’s eponymous series handhelds promise powerful windows gaming performance in the palm of your hand. Ayaneo has shared few details about the Ayaneo 3, including the display technology and processor options, but based on previous generations, we can speculate that it will offer at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The current flagship Ayaneo 2S offers up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage and it’s likely we won’t see that change this year.
The AMD Ryzen 8840U is a holdover from the Ayaneo 2S, but it’s still plenty powerful and should be able to handle most games just fine. The Ryzen 9 HX 370 goes toe-to-toe with Intel’s top-tier processor, the Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake, and offers the benefits of being able to power AI capabilities more efficiently.
Ayaneo has also changed up the design of its new handheld ever so slightly, which it says improves the ergonomics. It also included trigger locks and back buttons this year, a first for the company. While Ayaneo did not specifically say the Ayaneo 3 will support SD cards, nearly all its previous handhelds have and the pictures show what looks to be an SD card slot, so I’d expect to see support when it’s announced.
One other thing we can say with a fair bit of confidence is that the Ayaneo 3 won’t be cheap. Currently, the 2S starts at $1,000, so the Ayaneo 3 will probably start at a couple hundred dollars more than that. However, Ayaneo typically offers decent early bird pricing on Indiegogo, so if you are interested, you could save some money by ordering early.
Ayaneo has seen plenty of success since it came on the scene in 2021 – before the Steam Deck in fact, so much so that the company recently began selling some of its products at Best Buy, something you can’t say for the Steam Deck. The Ayaneo handhelds still don’t quite have the name recognition of its rivals from the big-name gaming companies, but it’s making progress.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Ayaneo 3 has enough to set itself apart from the increasingly crowded field of Windows gaming handhelds, but it’s still nice to see it offering top-tier gaming handhelds, and more competition is always a good thing.