Our friends at AYANEO have just announced an exciting new budget friendly iteration of one of their flagship devices – the AYANEO Next Lite.
What is particularly interesting and unique about this AYANEO device over any one of their MANY handhelds is that this one is focused on offering an affordable option.
We know that AYANEO does not compromise on quality, so we’re not expecting them to miss that familiar ultra-premium mark they are know for.
So it will be very interesting to see where they are able to cut costs, and exactly how much consumers will benefit from those cuts.
AYANEO Next Lite
No official specs have been shared by AYANEO for the Next Lite. But we do anticipate the same 7 inch 800p display used in the AYANEO Next, as well as that 47WHr battery.
There’s one spec that we can nearly guarantee we will not see in the Next Lite, and that is the Ryzen 7 5825u chipset. Because the first thing to be swapped out for a budget minded device will be the CPU and the onboard RAM.
Exact pricing has yet to be announced by AYANEO themselves. Keeping in mind that the original AYANEO Next is roughly $1300usd and the Next Pro is about $1500usd, we’re really hoping for a severe markdown this time around.
AYANEO devices rarely come in at less than $900. So we’re not entirely sure what price would put the Next Lite into the same discussion as competition like the Odin2 (starts at $299), the Retroid Pocket 4 (starts at $149), the Steam Deck (starts at $399), or the ASUS ROG Ally (starts at $599).
If AYANEO can get this new device in at $599 or less, we’d be satisfied with the difference. That would put the Next Lite at around 2/3 of the cost of their current most affordable device.
More Details
The promotional images shown for the Next Lite feature three colorway options from the standard Next device line: white with orange details, black, and light blue.
And obviously, the Next and Next Lite are absolutely stunning looking handheld gaming devices. No surprise there.
We anticipate the Next Lite to look identical to its big brother on the outside. It’s going to be the internal configuration that will be tweaked for our wallet’s benefit.
As an added benefit and something we are incredibly surprised to hear, the Next Lite will come with SteamOS pre-installed for the first time for an AYANEO device.
That obviously makes this viable competition for the Steam Deck, especially since the Next Lite will be much smaller and easier to travel with.
But obviously, they gotta get their price somewhere in the same universe as the Steam Deck, which will be quite a challenge.
Where And When Can We Buy?
AYANEO’s Twitter account and website mention that “subscriptions open” later this week.
We believe the use of the word “subscription” here refers to an IndieGogo campaign page opening for the new device with the option to signup to be notified when it is available to purchase.
We do not suspect that the Next Lite will actually be available to purchase later this week, since we’re just hearing about it for the first time now.
Surely AYANEO plans on putting the Next Lite through their usual cycle of teaser videos, hands on livestream, and then an IndieGogo campaign.
Those subscription signups are expected to open on January 11th at 9:30pm EST, which is 10:30am on January 12th for AYANEO in Hong Kong.
So you will want to keep an eye out if you’ve been patiently waiting for a cost effective AYANEO handheld device.
