AYANEO are not slowing down, with their recent announcement of their upcoming AYANEO NEXT 2 handheld which is the predecessor of their AYANEO Next.
It was just last week when I produced a news post on the AYANEO Flip, a clamshell handheld that they are also releasing this week.
AYANEO may want to slow down, as their customers might not know which one to buy due to the confusion and due to the fact the original NEXT was only launched in February of this year!
They have also revealed that the AYANEO Next 2 is the world’s first windows handheld with discrete GPU which will be detachable and upgradeable.
What is Discrete GPU?
Discrete GPU is a graphics processing unit that is separate from the main processor. It has its own dedicate memory that isn’t shared with the CPU.
But, because the discrete graphics is separate from the CPU, it tends to consume more power, and heats up more than normal non-discrete GPU’s.
How does it look?
Another big feature which you can see from the featured image is the omnipotent touchpad which is very similar to the Steam Deck. From experience they are a very nice addition to the handheld console, but need to be located perfectly for it to be a natural addition to the face.
Perhaps it will be able to play the exact same games the Steam Deck can through SteamOS?
They have also revealed some images of the face and back of the AYANEO Next 2 alongside the top which could feature a coloured LED strip.
Firstly, you can tell that the design looks very similar to that of the Steam Deck, and is also similar sized to it, making us believe it is trying to directly compete with it.
There are backlit analogue sticks, and a hefty D-PAD to go with the new touchpads.
What’s interesting is the back. As you can see from the image above it looks like some kind of volume rocket is sticking out of the handheld towards the right grip, along with what looks like a vent, and some kind of charging point.
Above the volume rocker you can also see what looks like a back paddle, this is likely to be extra buttons./triggers that you can map within AYANEO’s settings.
It also looks like the AYANEO Next 2 could feature a kick stand or a dock of some kind. A kick-stand on a handheld like this would be awesome, because you can connect bluetooth controllers to it while on the go.
AYANEO NEXT 2 Specifications
The AYANEO Next 2 will come with two different variants, both featured Intel or AMD internals. Below is the only information we currently know of, we will update it when we hear more.
- Intel Alder Lake & DG2
- AMD Zen3+ & RDNA2
- 12th Gen Core
- Ryzen 6000
- Intel ARC Alchemist (dGPU)
- AMD Radeon 6000 (dGPU)
- Windows 11
As of now there’s not a lot of information regarding the exact specifications, but we can assure you this could be their most powerful handheld yet.
The image above also shows you where they put it inline with their other handhelds, and it looks like the handheld will be their “top premium edition” indicating it could also be their most expensive too.
AYANEO Next 2 Pricing
As of now their is no official pricing, but if we had to guess it would be over $1000.
AYANEO NEXT 2 Release Date
The AYANEO Next 2 will release in Q4 of 2022, but likely to be pushed back because their 2022 lineup is now 7 handhelds strong…
A 29 year old fella that’s had a Gameboy addiction ever since he was a child. Brandon is the founder of RetroDodo and created a YouTube channel with 240,000 subscribers dedicated to retro gaming products. He now wants to create the No.1 site to showcase the latest retro products from around the globe.
