Ayaneo reveals Pocket Air Android handheld & more

Chinese hardware manufacturer Ayaneo revealed a number of new handhelds during a live broadcast and surprised everyone with a new Android handheld, named the Pocket Air.

With a mostly drab stream, Ayaneo still managed to impress with its upcoming hardware. Alongside showing off the previously released Ayaneo 2 and Air Pro, as well as the upcoming Slide. The show ended with the Pocket Air, an Android-based handheld not too dissimilar to the Logitech G Cloud or Razer Edge.

It’s the first time Ayaneo is getting into the Android space, releasing a series of Windows-enabled devices previously. This will be a much more affordable device, advertised as focusing on its emulation capabilities.

In the advertising, there’s a Chrono Trigger and Super Mario Bros. 3 icon on the device.

The CEO, Arthur Zhang, presented the device as a better solution than what’s already on the market. Whether or not it’ll actually play more advanced games smoothly has yet to be seen.

Interestingly, they focused on what was going to be inside the device. A big thing recently in gaming is the lack of quality in the controllers. Joycon drift and PS5 DualSense controllers routinely breaking is just the tip of the iceberg.

No drift, ever

Ayaneo seems to have taken this to heart and will be fitting the Pocket Air with Hall-effect joysticks, presumably made by Gulikit. These use magnets to keep them functional over a long period of time. They’ll also be implementing the tech into the triggers too.

Outside of the controls, the screen will be similar to that of the Air Pro, with an OLED display coming in at 5.5 inches.

Ayaneo plans to launch the console sometime in Q2 2023, but didn’t give any exact dates. Alongside the Pocket Air, they announced the ‘Kun’. While not shown, it was advertised that it will be demonstrated at the ‘Spring festival’. We’re eagerly awaiting all that they have to show in the future.