New Retroid Pocket Mini… but is it?

Now that Retroid has dropped an official trailer for their new handheld we can stop speculating on a Retroid Pocket 4S sort of. Until we get more info it really could be that, a smaller form factor. Let’s review what we know, what we speculate and how much this will cost.

Though information is limited we do know a few things. Mostly what screen is in Retroid newest offering. Their new handheld will be sporting a 3.7” 4:3 OLED 1280×960 display. It feels so good to type OLED as it’s just not used enough in the Emulation Handheld space. The last OLED we saw that will likely be around the same price range was the Anbernic RG556. Keep in mind not all OLEDs are created equally. Even though the screen on the Vita was praised in its day, we later found out there was so much more that could be done with OLED technology.

Though most anything else we could post would be speculation at this point there are a couple fairly educated guesses when it comes to CPU’s. Initially this new handheld was thought to be a Retroid Pocket 4S (my video review here). This would leave a person to look at Retroid’s available CPU inventory and assume that we are looking at a Dimensity D900. The D900 was the CPU used on the Ayn Odin Lite and the RP4… even though they are totally not the same company (cough) this would be the most likely option. I’m of the mind the “S” was a designator until the design was finalized.

One other thing that I think is important to discuss is companies using Mini as a designator. It would make sense if these were American companies for the “portions” to get bigger while sizes stay the same (there is a shallow jab at things being oversized in the USA) but they aren’t American companies. “Mini”in the Handheld Emulator space use to be under 3”’s in screen size. Fact is most mini handhelds were right around 2.8’”s. Now the Retroid Pocket Mini coming in at 3.7”and the Ayn Odin Mini with a 5” miniLED screen. At least with Ayn they can say it has a “mini”LED screen, I guess. Not to forget the Ayaneo Pocket Micro with its 3.5” screen. Ayaneo is calling that a Micro. I digress!

We can see by the images that the Retroid Pocket Mini enjoys active cooling, has front firing speakers, a single type-c hole, LEDs around the assumed same awesome Hall Sticks Retroid, Ayn and now MagicX have been using, micro SD expansion and they kept the 3.5mm hole for gamers who are sensitive to audio latency. I fear they are using the SOC out of the RP4 which leaves us with no Video Out through the Type-c hole. We also haven’t seen a Retroid handheld not running Android so I think that is a given.

I always like to try an guess the costs and I’m often pretty close. I’m assuming Retroid is going to attempt to take market share from the Anbernic Cube (my video review here) and possible ZPG Z1 Unicorn. At least that was my initial thought. Then it dawned on me that Retroid is likely eliminating the RP2 line; the sizing here is too similar. The RP2S is sensibly the best price to performance handheld you can buy today and sales are still strong (my video review here). That prices this at release around $129-$149. Keeping it below the RP4 and above the RP2S, also close enough to make the jump from the Unicorn or RG Cube. This is assuming it has the Dimensity D900. But that’s just my guess.

As more details become available including price I’ll be here to let you know.

Is the Retroid Pocket Mini a handheld that interests you? Or are you like me waiting for Retroid to release a new Flip?

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