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Sebastian Santabarbara profile image Sebastian Santabarbara

MANGMI Tease The Pocket Max As A Potential Successor To The Air X

Silhouette of MANGMI's new handheld
Credit: MANGMI
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Back in October, I got my hands on the MANGMI Air X for the first time and was immediately impressed. A handheld with an early-bird price of $79.99 that could play GameCube and PS2 titles on it, as well as smashing N64 and PSP games out of the park. It was all too good to be true, but there it was, playing Simpson's Road Rage and Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy with ease.

The MANGMI Air X on Seb's desk
The MANGMI Air X

Now, MANGMI have teased a single shot of a silhouette of their new console, the Pocket Max, with the tagline 'unleash your imagination' above it. Ok, it's all a little 'live laugh love' if you ask me, but you get the idea. MANGMI also say that the new handheld will be 'powered by imagination' and 'driven by performance'. They're citing that this is their answer to the question of 'what creativity and performance should look like', and that the handheld is built for every type of creative world the user might want to explore.

Promo advert for the MANGMI Pocket Max
Credit: MANGMI

So what are we thinking? Well, it's safe to say that 'Max' means that the console is going to be bigger and more powerful than the Air X. I have a feeling that they might be trying to take on Retroid with this new release, and if they can come in with a pricetag that's much cheaper than the likes of the Retroid Pocket 5 and a lot of AYANEO's recent products like the Pocket Ace, then they could do very well indeed.

In terms of power, I was slightly disappointed that the Air X couldn't handle some of the PS2's most demanding games. The Air X has a Snapdragon 662 chipset, but I can imagine the Pocket Max using the Snapdragon 865 like the Retroid Pocket 5, which I think is still going to be the Pocket Max's main contender. I can't see them going head-to-head with the Retroid Pocket 6 and its 8 Gen 2 processor, and the 865 would allow for Need for Speed: Most Wanted: Black Edition and God of War to run flawlessly.

That's all the information we have at this moment, though announcements usually move pretty quickly once images have been teased like this. As always, I'll be back to update you with more specs and news as and when they arrives, so make sure to check back here and sign up to our newsletter to be kept in the loop!

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Sebastian Santabarbara profile image Sebastian Santabarbara
Sebastian is fuelled by a lifelong passion for Zelda, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong, and all things retro. He uses his misspent youth with retro consoles to create content for readers around the world.