Ayaneo is giving us a bit of a tease around the first device in their ‘CODE R‘ lineup.
“Did you order the Code Red?”
Ayaneo announced ‘CODE R‘ at the same time as Konkr with one being slated at “budget-minded” while the other a sub-brand to release “powerful affordable” devices. The first Konkr handheld announced is the yet to be released Pocket Fit.
The Ayaneo Pocket AIR Mini is a smaller version of the Ayaneo Pocket Air which released in 2023. The initial AIR Mini renders looked pretty good, but now it looks like a Mini Pocket AIR (which makes sense).
Overall I can best describe the Pocket AIR Mini as a squished Anbernic Cube when it comes to overall appearance.
Display
During the 9-2 Live Steam event it was announced that the Pocket AIR Mini will have a 4:3 ratio horizontal display. Ayaneo hasn’t discussed screen size yet. Ayaneo does seem to be sharing displays with everyone else right now and the Anbernic RG Slide 4.7” display would be neat.
CEO Arthur stated that the display will be under 5”’s.
It’s really hard to judge by the image and 4.7” might be a little big but they are going to be fairly limited if they are trying to make it smaller than the Pocket AIR’s 5.5” display and keep the 4:3 aspect ratio.
In today’s trend they will also want a 120Hz display. This would allow for Black Frame Insertion (BFI) which cleans up those retro images when emulating by placing black frames between frames.
Power
The Ayaneo Pocket AIR used the Dimensity D1200 when it released. I’m assuming that after we have seen Ayaneo push away from Dimensity and towards Snapdragon we will see something like the SDG2Gen2 in the Pocket AIR Mini. This would make it slightly more powerful than Retroids Pocket Mini.
To make this handheld operate like the Retroid Pocket Mini however they may want to equip something like the SD865 today due to compatibility. That said within the last couple weeks we have seen SDG1 Adreno A12 drivers start to roll out so its likely it won’t be long before Adreno A22 drivers compatible with the SDGen2G2 emerge.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing and Ayaneo ‘CODE R’ series supposedly being “budget-minded” in comparison to past devices it could be anything under $300USD. But luckily CEO Arthur gives us an idea on a Discord post.
Arthur is stating that the Pocket AIR Mini will come in around $140USD (converted from under 999CNY) . This would be around half of the lowest priced Ayaneo in recent memory.
Thoughts
If they stick to their normal build quality and I can’t imagine they won’t, this could turn out to be a pretty solid value. The display is going to make this handheld appealing being 4:3 which is often the golden ration in retro gaming as long as they get the right screen.
When it comes to SOC they will hopefully focus on a chipset with driver compatibility. This is important for any device trying to emulate above PS2, Vita3K even offers importing drivers.
I’m really interested to see what this turns out to be. It’s hard to imagine Ayaneo playing around in Anbernic’s space in the hobby, but I’m here for it. If they pull this off at a truly budget minded price it will force other manufacturers to up their game. A shakeup is exactly what the Retro Handheld hobby needs right now.
As always once we have more info we’ll keep you posted. Ayaneo isn’t typically in any hurry once they start their info drip as their handhelds can take months to release.
GameOn
CellPhish
Special promotions are offered by vendors and can be modified or canceled at any time. We have no input or control over others’ promotions. This article may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase an item we may earn a small commission which comes at no additional cost to you and helps support future content.
