The portable market continues to boom with slick devices of various power and styling hitting the market. Today, AYA Neo's new Next II ramps up the power to compete with Steam Deck, while a roster of cheap "emulator handhelds" roll out with gentler power boosts to support a wider range of legacy systems up to the PS3 and Wii U.
All the while Sony sits on the sidelines, wondering how it will market a no-need PS5 Pro/PS6 iterative upgrade ("hey, we were kidding about all those previous consoles being 4K machines!"), still feeling corporate shame about the Vita. And Nintendo trundles along at its own pace considering an eventual successor to the Switch
These new units come hot on the heels of 2022's Logitech G Cloud and Razer's 5G Edge effort, all trying to find their niche for gamers. The AYA Neo Next II replaces the $1,500 AYA Neo Next Pro and will pack in a Ryzen 7000, discrete GPU, loads of RAM and battery under an 8-inch screen to run Windows plus all the emulators and games you like, for a big-ticket price.
Also from the Hong Kong brand is the Pocket AIR Android model for full-fat retro gaming. The marketing even shows a Vita tucked away in the photo of the many systems this bad boy can emulate. The Pocket AIR comes with a 5.5-inch OLED screen, dual sticks and a custom retro-game database, which rights-holders most be thrilled about.
China's Anbernic also continues to roll out the cuter, lower-power models for retro gamers with a raft of models from £50 up to £240 for the WIN 600 model. With something for every budget, if you want to enjoy gaming on the go, there's something in pretty much every style. And there's similar creatures from the likes of Retroid and Miyoo if you want to spice up your collection.
GPD continue to deliver at the high-end with the recently released Win 4 offering HD gaming on the go, and offering emulation of everything up to PS3 and Wii U, which is a compelling box, powered by a recent Ryzen chipset behind a 6-inch screen with SSD storage.
With even the likes of Atari chipping in with its 50th anniversary handheld, and plenty more brands testing the water, there are so many handhelds its starting to make the legacy gaming brands look a little silly, but I'm sure they know best. At least from Evercade to Steam Deck, there is something for the main niches and beyond, and plenty more to come in terms of power and styling.
As for the rush to the high-end, I've always treated portable gaming as the fun sector, as demonstrated perfectly by Evercade, so I'll pass for now, but certainly the more mainstream models are pretty tempting.
