TL;DR After first previewing the handheld last year, AYANEO is opening crowdfunding of its Windows-based Next 2 console.
Early-bird pricing starts at $1,799 for the 385/32GB/1TB edition, rising to $3,499 for the 395/128GB/2TB model.
Once the early-bird period is over, those figures climb to $1,999 and $4,299, respectively.
When you’re gaming on the go, Android-based handheld consoles can be a fantastic alternative to our phones, offering responsive controls and supporting an impressive array of emulators. But for the most demanding games, sometimes you’ve got to level up to PC hardware, with something like the KONKR Fit we just saw AYANEO introduce. That’s not the only Windows-based handheld the company’s been working on, and this week it’s also getting orders started for its eagerly anticipated Next 2.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a favorite source in Google Discover to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more.
to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search by clicking the button below.
When AYANEO first started talking about the Next 2 last year, it was clear this was going to involve some serious hardware. Specs like an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chipset and the presence of a beefy 115Wh battery had us expecting some more top-shelf components — and, presumably, a lofty price tag to match. This week AYANEO opens its Indiegogo project for the Next 2, confirming both of those assumptions.
Some of these details we already knew about, like the Next 2’s big, beautiful 9.06-inch 165Hz OLED panel (with a 2400×1504 resolution). As you’d only expect, there’s a bevy of buttons and triggers, but AYANEO finds a few ways to stand out even there, like adjustable torque to get the thumbsticks feeling just how you like.
Maybe the biggest outstanding questions we had concerned memory and storage, and AYANEO is now finally spelling out our options. The Next 2 will be available with 32GB, 64GB, or a whopping 128GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and your choice of either 1TB or 2GB of NVMe storage.
With specs like that, you’re probably already bracing yourself for the sticker price, so let’s not delay the bad news any longer.
... continue reading