AYANEO owner and CEO Arthur Zhang has confirmed that the news is true – the AYANEO Flip DS is a real thing.
When sites like Dexerto and Liliputing first dropped the news, we were very reluctant to believe that the Flip DS was real (apologies for doubting you!).
The main reason for our doubts was because, when AYANEO has news, we are typically on their short list of contacts. But this particular bit of news did not arrive in our inbox and we’re salty about it!
But after a couple days of online debates, Arthur has checked in with Retro Dodo offices to confirm that this unique dual-screen device is an actual AYANEO product in the works.
AYANEO Flip DS
Because of the unusual nature of this “leak”, we still know very little about the upcoming AYANEO Flip DS.
We can expect that it will contain the same inner hardware as its brother device, the AYANEO Flip KB. This also seems to be the new official name for the keyboard model of the Flip.
The Flip KB features a 7 inch display, an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U CPU, and Radeon 780M integrated graphics.
The Flip DS appears to implement everything from the KB model, except it has replaced the keyboard with a small secondary screen.
Which, of course, means that you lose the keyboard and now must navigate your Windows-based console all via touch controls and game pads.
This doesn’t sound like the best way to do things. But there are a lot of things about this situation that does not feel right.
“Leaks” and Impressions
The discussions about the Flip DS have opened a lot of doors for outsiders to see how some of these “leaks” actually work.
Obviously, these leaks rarely happen by accident. It is usually something initiated by the companies who hope to create some hype behind their upcoming products.
Something I found quite interesting about the community response to the Flip DS is how there seems to be very little hype.
In fact, most of the response has been doubt. Doubt in the device being real and doubt that it would work well if it were real.
Putting a small screen on the bottom half for the primary purpose of Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii U emulation does not actually sound that good. And many have pointed out how difficult that might be to actually make work on a software level.
The community has been itching for a perfect Nintendo DS emulation machine, but I do not think they are convinced that a $1200 Windows device is it.
I hope that AYANEO hears the silence from the community and realizes that 1. they handled this leak poorly, and 2. that they might need to rethink this DS machine.
Perhaps if AYANEO can make an unusually affordable option, they could do well in this unexplored DS space.
But I can’t imagine people paying over a thousand dollars on a DS emulation station when they can buy an actual DS for about $15.
Time will tell. Surely news straight from AYANEO will drop soon about future plans for the Flip DS.
