2025 is the year of clamshell handhelds, and I remember saying this last year in a video. With AYANEO revealing their Android dual-screen clamshell, GoRetroid releasing add-ons and now AYN announcing their all-new THOR handheld, that really is coming true.
AYN have a long history of creating powerful, yet portable devices, their most popular being the AYN Odin, an Android powerhouse that features in our best retro handhelds article due to its build quality, competitive pricing and PlayStation 2 emulation performance.
This respected company has now officially revealed AYN Thor, a dual-screen clamshell handheld featuring a powerful processor, rumble mechanics, LED joysticks, stacked triggers and active cooling.
Those are the only specifications that we know so far, and come from the promotional video above. There is no indication to say this is an Android-focused device, although that is what I believe it will be.
Nor is there any additional information regarding internal specifications, RAM or battery capacity. However, this will likely compete with AYANEO's upcoming Pocket DS. It's also only a matter of time before GoRetroid enter the space, again, likely another competitor.
The clamshell wars have well and truly begun.
In terms of design, I am really digging what they have done. It looks super sleek, fairly thin, has well-designed shoulder buttons, a glass top for the controller area to make the screen look naturally embedded, and a unique chin that houses the less-popular buttons, probably used to access menus and settings.
If I had to guess pricing and timings, following AYN's history, I would expect this to be priced under $500 and ship before the end of the year, but that's complete speculation.
I am excited to see this come to fruition. It's landed a great time too, as many have backed crowdfunding campaigns, or are waiting for someone to release something quickly, so hopefully AYN can come in and get straight to shipping before any of its competitors.
Stay tuned for our review, we'll likely snag this one to see what it can do iwhen it comes to Nintendo DS/3DS emulation!
