I try my best to keep in touch with handheld manufacturers around the globe, especially the ones we cover extneisvely here at Retro Dodo. I knew Yoniq just finished showcasing their Yoniq Duo dual-screen handheld and their Yoniq Portal at this year's Tokyo Games Show, so I asked when we'll see more announcements from them.
Their marketing team got back to me, beating around my questions regarding specifications, respectively, but they kinda answered my question regarding its release date and when we can see it available to purchase, seeing as they have a random countdown on their website that finishes on New Year's Day.
Yoniq's marketing team replied with the following: "We’re currently planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign later this quarter — possibly as soon as next month — featuring both the Yoniq Duo and Yoniq Portal. We’ll use the level of support from the campaign to help determine our initial production quantity. After speaking with many creators and players in Tokyo, we’ve also been continuously fine-tuning the devices and optimizing various details to make them even better."
This is the first time we're hearing this from Yoniq, indicating that they are going to crowdfund this device instead of launching it, which is quite common for newcomers to the scene; it's how AYANEO got started, and now they're pumping out more handhelds than I have hot dinners. I am not sure if they'll be separate Kickstarters or if they'll launch them together, allowing customers to bundle them, which I think is the likely outcome here. But we now know that these will be priced between $159 and $199 if their new listings are anything to go by.
Typically, Kickstarter campaigns last anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks, making me believe this will finish before Christmas and production will begin in Q1 after Chinese New Year with deliveries beginning deep into Q1, but that's just my guess as we're seeing memory and screen shortages in every country right now, so I can't imagine manufacturing will be quick, even if its from a company with "50 years experience" in producing handhelds for other clients. But it's good to know it's coming soon, and we'll be sure to update you when it goes live via our free weekly newsletter.
