Ayaneo, known for its handheld gaming devices, has announced a new model for retro gamers and casual players.
The new Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini is designed to be an affordable way to play classic games without breaking the bank. A key feature of the Pocket Air Mini is its 4.2-inch display. The screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio, 60Hz refresh rate, a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels, and up to 500 nits brightness.
Ayaneo says this shape is ideal for older games, allowing for perfect 4x upscaling for PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 titles, and 2x upscaling for Sega Dreamcast games. This minimizes the black borders that often appear when playing retro games on wider modern screens.
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For internal hardware, Ayaneo selected the MediaTek Helio G90T processor with Mali-G76 MP4 GPU. The base model comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. A version with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage will also be available. Both versions feature RGB Hall effect joysticks and triggers. There’s also a microSD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack.
To keep the device from overheating during use, it uses an active cooling system to help with heat. It is also powered by a 4,500mAh battery that supports 18W wired charging. Under the hood, it runs on an Android 11-based OS.
The company announced an aggressive pricing structure with special early discounts. The base model (2GB/32GB) will start at a limited-time price of $70. This will then rise to an early-bird price of $75, before settling at a final retail price of $90(~Php5,000).
The upgraded model (3GB/64GB) will be offered at a limited-time price of $80, followed by an early-bird price of $85. Its final retail price will be $100(~Php5,700).