Upcoming handhelds are coming out left right and centre, and with the recent release of the RG351MP being the best of the RK3326 chipset, what else could be around the corner, and what ones are worth looking at?
Well I thought I’d dive deep into the handheld community and show you seven of my personal favourite upcoming handhelds over the next few months.
Many of these best retro handhelds range in different prices, but I’ve tried to keep it somewhat budget friendly and I’m only listing handhelds under the $300 mark because that’s what our channel predominantly features.
And because these handhelds haven’t been officially revealed, we don’t have the specs for them as of yet. Please see our linked news articles about these products for the latest information.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s take a look at the best upcoming handhelds of 2022.
1. ANBERNIC RG353V
The RG353V is still in speculation, but it’s on the list because I personally think it will become a reality in 2023.
For those that don’t know, ANBERNIC create some of the best retro handhelds on the market, and their RG351V was by far one of their best products, and in fact it is probably the best affordable vertical handheld emulator on the market to this day.
The RG353V is going to be incredibly similar to the RG351V, with the same layout, flared shoulder buttons, and a great screen. However, this time they’ll add a new chip that could allow this handheld to emulate consoles up to Gamecube efficiently.
The vertical form factor is also very popular, it’s nostalgic and ever since the launch of the Analogue Pocket many collectors prefer this layout.
ANBERNIC are also likely to add two analogue sticks, a brighter and sharper 3.5″ screen alongside better battery life and a cleaner OS.
Last years RG552 was a little disappointing so I am hoping ANBERNIC can make a comeback with the RG353V and go back to making phenomenal handhelds.
The name may change, and if it does, we’ll be sure to update this article.
2. ANBERNIC “Mini Handheld”
As of the 14th August 2022, a mini handheld from ANBERNIC has leaked on Instagram, showing what looks like a replica of the Miyoo Mini but with some minor changes.
It goes to show that ANBERNIC are doing anything in their power to create handhelds as quickly as they can, to jump on trends. The Mini handheld console niche is booming after the likes of the Funkey S and the Miyoo Mini.
Consumers love portability mixed with a choice of adorable color combinations, especially when the user interface is silky smooth and easy to understand.
So in ANBERNIC fashion they want to compete, and we respect that, but they have to up their quality and pricing strategy. ANBERNIC are becoming a greedy company that launches below average handhelds, so they really need to launch something special in 2022.
As of now there is no official information regarding pricing, specs and release dates.
3. KT R1
The KT R1 news came out of nowhere and at first many thought it could be the new Retroid Pocket 3, but no, it turns out one single person is working on the KT R1 as a passion project coming to the public, making it a long but one of the most anticipated upcoming handhelds of the year.
What makes the KT R1 so interesting is not only the way it looks but the fact that it will feature a Snapdragon 845 processor in a very compact form factor.
It’s rumoured to have a 4.5” touchscreen display, up to 8GB’s of RAM, a 5000mah battery capacity, wifi, bluetooth and Android 10.
This to me just screams pocket power, and because it features stacked shoulder buttons, dual analogue sticks, a great looking DPAD and the possibility of a metal shell edition I just had to feature it in this video.
As of now there’s no rumours of release dates, nor are there any pricing leaks and this is probably because the man behind this device doesn’t want to get peoples hopes up, just in case something goes wrong.
Overall it looks like a very compelling handhelds, and if you’re like us, a smaller screen isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we’re all about pocket power and when it looks like this, it’s hard to be excited.
We update our article regularly, so if you need more information about the KT R1, check out the links below.
4. Retroid Pocket 3
Due to the incredible popularity of the Retroid Pocket 2, it’s no surprise that a Retroid Pocket 3 is on its way, but little information, images or leaks have been revealed for this device.
One YouTuber known as Taki Udon has his hands on the packaging for the upcoming device and past leaks show the original template for the handhelds design.
The leaked images show the device to feature a 5” screen, alongside flared shoulder buttons just like the Retroid Pocket 2, Mini-HDMI Out, USB-C charging and more.
It’s likely that the Retroid Pocket 3 will be more powerful than the previous device and featured Android 10, Wifi, Bluetooth, touchscreen and hopefully a very competitive price.
It’s the first time in while where the retro handheld scene is getting a little over populated, so only the devices that spark innovation, and affordability will prevail, and from what we can tell the Retroid Pocket team really like to price their devices well.
Some videos and images have been leaked, but please do take these with a pinch of salt, as this information still isn’t “official”.
5. OH WOW Handheld
The OH WOW handheld was exclusively announced by ourselves in late July 2022. The team behind this product got in touch with us and informed us that this device is aiming to go on sale at the end of the year, all for under $199.
It features a RK3399 chipset, with up to 8GB RAM, a 3.5″ IPS or OLED display, two analogue sticks, USB-C charging and WiFi/Bluetooth.
It’s still in very early development as you can tell from the renders, but what’s unique about this retro handheld, is the fact that it’s being built by three handheld enthusiasts from the United States.
The overall form factor looks similar to the Analogue Pocket except with analogue sticks and different shoulder buttons, so we’re excited to see what the team comes out with.
We’ll update this section when we have more information.
6. Miyoo P60
The Miyoo P60 is another upcoming retro handheld that has tickled our fancy. Miyoo were previously the creators behind the popular Bittboy Pocket go, as you can probably tell from the button layout.
With ahistory of making some pretty good handhelds, this one excites us, not only because they’ll have a team working on it, but because it’s running the P60 chip, which should “on paper” be able to emulate the best Gamecube games very well.
There has also been some images that have leaked, which shows a real image of the Miyoo P60 instead of renders.
It’s sat next to the RK2020 which was launched in 2020 and was one of the first with the RK3326 chip. The P60 seems longer, has a 16:9 screen, runs Android 10, and looks to be slightly thicker too.
It has the DMG speaker grill on the bottom right, two Switch analogue sticks, and hopefully decent battery life.
As of now this is the only information we have, but you can read a little bit more in the featured article should that interest you! There’s no news of release date or price as of now.
7. ANBERNIC RG505
The ANBERNIC RG505 is a device that was randomly revealed on their YouTube channel in mid August, as if it was an accident.
This is a device that looks like the previous RG350P and the RG351P, but instead it has a much large screen, 4GB’s RAM and an Android operating system.
The video above shows the device playing some of the best PS2 games, such as God of War. This is usually quite hard to emulate on other retro handheld devices, so it’s actually somewhat impressive that a handheld of this size can pull it off.
As of now there is no official news regarding pricing, release date or specs, but we can imagine this will be released before the end of the year, and will likely cost around $150 due to the emulation capabilities and previous RG handheld pricing.
8. AYA Neo OLED “Ultra Thin”
AYA Neo are creating some of the best handheld gaming PC’s on the market, and they’re launching them faster than they can sell them. First it was the original AYA Neo, then the AYA Neo Next, and now they’re already revealing a new handheld for handheld gamers, all in the space of a few years.
Arthur Zhang the CEO recently tweeted this with the above image attached:
“AYANEO’s ultra-thin OLED handheld is officially exposed. After many handheld designs, we have integrated the best look, shape and feel. Ultra-thin and light is its soul, and we also give it an excellent grip, which is what I have accumulated as a handheld player for decades”.
From what we gather, Arthur is trying to create a very powerful handheld with the form factor of a Nintendo Switch or even a Nintendo Switch Lite.
Will it be expensive, oh, absolutely, AYA’s products are far from cheap, and will be far more expensive than the Steam Deck, but we see them as the “Apple” of handhelds, creating overpriced products that have superb build quality.
As of now there’s no official information on it, only the image you see above, but if they’re teasing it now, it’s likely pre-orders will go live before 2023.
9. AYN Loki
As of the 25th May 2022 the makers behind the AYN Odin have teased a new upcoming handhelds titled “the world’s most affordable Windows handheld”.
It’s called the AYN Loki, which is on theme for the title of their handhelds! In terms of changes, not much has changed in terms of physical appearance, apart from the obvious white design and the change of the action button layout, to make it more familiar for Xbox players.
The AYN Odin was priced very competitively at under $300, or if you were lucky enough to back them early it was closer to the $200 mark, which is an incredible deal seeing as it can emulate the best Gamecube games fluidly!
But it looks like AYN want to penetrate the Windows handheld gamers on a budget instead of their traditional Android operating systems.
If they can price this at around $250 I can confidently say it will do incredibly well, simply because i know how high quality their handhelds are, and the Steam Deck is slightly out of reach for the average consumer, so having something that’s cheaper and just as powerful will be amazing for the industry.
But can they pull it off? Who knows. As of now they have only revealed the video embedded above, with no tech specs, prices or release dates but it’s likely it will come in three different models, all with different specs, just like the Odin’s Lite, Base and Pro models.
10. AYANEO Flip
The AYANEO Flip is a new upcoming clamshell handheld revealed by AYANEO on a livestream in early June.
It is rumoured that this device will launch in “Q4 of 2022” and host enough power to play AAA games in a brand new way. No doubt they’ll title this “the world’s first clamshell handheld PC”, or something along those lines.
With AYANEO’s history it’s likely that they will certainly pull this off. It will feature a touchscreen display, flared shoulder buttons, two analogue sticks and a minimal design to entice us handheld gamers.
Inside it’s likely to rock a Octa-core processor and up to 8GB’s RAM, making it very able for a lot of your steam games.
As of now these are the only two images we have.
AYANEO are keeping this on lockdown, so don’t expect any news on this until further into 2022.
We’ll update this article as often as we can when we hear about new upcoming handhelds!
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.
