Premium Handheld Company AYANEO Reveals New Budget Line
It’s been a busy week for AYANEO, with the company releasing no less than four recent “Sharing Session” YouTube videos detailing future plans, new releases, and most surprisingly of all, a new budget line, KONKR (pronounced ‘conqueror’).
AYANEO is a company based on the motto “by real gamers, for other gamers,” and has made a name for itself by creating retro-style computers and handhelds built with modern, high-end components – and with prices to match. Now, AYANEO founder Arthur Zhang has revealed the Pocket Fit as the flagship KONKR handheld.
“KONKR will focus on creating high-performance, budget-friendly devices,” he said in a dedicated Pocket Fit video. “The Pocket Fit is now entering mass production and represents the KONKR brand’s deep understanding of handheld gaming.”
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Pocket Power
Zhang then revealed the Pocket Fit specifications and they’re impressive enough to help it stand out from competitors like Retroid and Powkiddy; most notably, it comes with a 6” TrueColor LCD screen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. It also features a 144hz ultra refresh rate and toughened anti-glare glass, so playing outside or under bright lights shouldn’t be an issue. The screen also has an ultra-narrow bezel for a borderless view.
Surprisingly for an apparent budget handheld, the Pocket Fit is fitted with a new Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 CPU, rather than an older version. This means the device can handle both retro titles and AAA games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Genshin Impact.
The Pocket Fit perhaps better represents something like the Steam Deck, in that its other internal components more closely resemble a handheld PC than a typical handheld. Chief among the differences is a thermal cooling system incorporating heat fins and an active cooling fan.
A major selling point for modern handhelds, whether they’re budget or premium, is the battery life; no one wants to use a device that runs out of juice after only a couple of hours. The Pocket Fit comes with an 8000mAh battery, which is closer to PC specs, charges fast, and can last for around 10 hours, or longer depending on use.
Bells And Whistles
AYANEO is clearly showing off its expertise by cramming a load of extra stuff into the Pocket Fit that takes it several levels above what most gamers expect from a budget handheld, including RGB Hall Effect joysticks, a dual trigger lock, and rubber face buttons (as opposed to plastic ones found on a lot of low-tier devices). It even features haptic feedback thanks to four vibration modes.
It also comes with dual speakers, a USB-C port, Micro SD slot, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth 5.3. Even gamers not well-versed in handhelds can probably start to see that the Pocket Fit is really stretching the definition of a budget device.
The Pocket Fit features Android 14 as the OS, which isn’t that fancy, but it does include the option to spoof other devices, notably popular types of phones. It also has a retro game frontend, that “auto scrapes local ROM information for better data management.” Zhang wasn’t clear on how else this works, although it does appear to be a way to organize files rather than download them.
The KONKR Pocket Fit will be available in yellow, white, and black color schemes, although the two things that Zhang didn’t mention during the reveal were the actual release date, and most notably, the price. Given the quality of AYANEO’s main products, like its recent Pocket Ace, and the design and components of this KONKR flagship device, it’ll be surprising if the price ends up being as budget-friendly as gamers hope.
