Is Powkiddy secretly making a Clamshell Handheld V90 successor??

This year so far we have seen a plethora of Mini and Clamshell handhelds being released from everyone but Powkiddy. Something is off here as this is a space Powkiddy has mostly held for the last 3 years. We seem to be missing a tested line of new ultra pocketable devices.

Powkiddy has been playing it very safe so far in 2024. Part of me as a reviewer is feeling some loss not having the off the wall devices that are either way over or under powered. That fresh new design that doesn’t quite get it right but inspires mid tier companies to take some risks for better or worse to come out with something new.

The first half of this year Powkiddy has been releasing handhelds that have been relatively safe and building off their popular RGB30 from last year. They have mostly stuck to the same chipset, screen, firmware (though unapproved) and design philosophy. There have been slight variations in design but ultimately they have made Pico-8 machines over and over since the success of the RGB30.

You could argue that the RGB10Max3 (which oddly came out well after the RGB10Max 3 Pro) has a wider screen, but at the end of the day everything else is mostly the same. Recently Powkiddy released the RGB20SX which is another handheld of theirs this year that I really enjoyed. That being said the RGB20SX is literally all the same as the RGB30 but in a vertical form factor. I’m still not convinced the RGB30 qualifies as a horizontal handheld. It is yet to be seen if these new devices though really good at launch will be plagued with the same issues as the RGB30 or if they learned not to make the same mistakes through their many revisions to the handheld into what we have today.

Has something changed in Powkiddy’s bussiness practices causing them to play it safe? Has Powkiddy finally gotten comfortable now that they found a winning formula? These are the questions I don’t have answers to. I feel like they might currently be missing an opportunity in the clamshell game however.

With Anbernic and Miyoo coming out with clamshells this year where is Powkiddy? This is a market position that Powkiddy has owned for about 3 years now in the sub $60 clamshell game with the V90. There was also the X18 which once beefed up to the X18S saw some success. In fact you can normally find the V90 on sale for under $40. If you set pricing aside you really only have the Retroid Pocket Flip launching in a clamshell for less than $200 in the last year (if you read the published sales reports from Nintendo they somehow sell 2 or 3 3DS’s every quarter but I don’t think those random overstock finds count).

There is some perplexing issues when it comes to clamshell handhelds which I assume Miyoo has been struggling with. Miyoo was set to launch their Flip October-November 2023. The biggest issue is the hinges as they tend to break their way through the plastic shells, just ask Retroid. It’s yet to be seen if the Anbernic RG35XXSP (Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP “clone’ish” device) which released for sale this week can survive the haunt of the hinge. Anbernic played it pretty safe however as they all but cloned the hinge Nintendo used in their SP.

This is an issue Powkiddy has already solved with their own handhelds. If their was widespread hinge issues with the Powkiddy V90 we would be talking about it in todays environment. I’m forced to wonder if Powkiddy is nervous lightning can’t strike twice in the clamshell game. Although they seem to be playing is safe right now re-releasing the same devices in different form factors, there is a real opportunity to offer a handheld in a form factor they have proven they can be successful with.

Do you think Powkiddy is secretly producing an updated clamshell emulator? Or has Powkiddy lost their edginess and instead planning another rendition of the RGB30? I impatiently await their next announcement!

GameOn