Just as the AYANEO Pocket Vert begins shipping to backers, the company is now releasing another handheld. However, instead of putting everyone through the frustration of another crowdfunding campaign, the AYANEO Pocket S Mini is available directly from the company’s website. Not just that, but it’s also available to order starting today.
Pricing for the Pocket S Mini starts at $319 for the 8GB/128GB model, bumping up to $399 for the 12GB/256GB variant, and topping out at $479 if you want the 16GB/512GB version. As expected, the Retro Power color option is the only way to get the top-spec model, which is basically just the norm for AYANEO handhelds.
AYANEO Pocket S Mini Specs
- Display: 4.2-inch LCD, 1280 x 960, 4:3
- Processor: Qualcomm G3x Gen 2
- GPU:Â Adreno A32
- RAM: 8GB/12GB/16GB LPDDR5X
- Storage 128GB (UFS 3.1) / 256GB (UFS 4.0) / 512GB (UFS 4.0) + microSD
- Battery: 6,000mAh w/ PD Charge
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3
- Colors: Obsidian Black / Ice Soul White / Retro Power
- Dimensions: 167.1 x 77.85 x 18.5mm
- Weight: 305g
- Software: Android 14
As for shipping, a follow-up message on the AYANEO Discord laid out the following timeline:
- Order now → Ships in 7–10 days
- Order before Feb 10 → Ships before Feb 12 (before Chinese New Year)
- Order after Feb 10 → Ships Feb 26 – Mar 5
The message goes on to mention that this is the “Early bird price” and that you’ll get a “free gift pack.” However, it’s unclear when this pricing window will close, and how much the price will jump after it’s complete.
There’s not really all that much to talk about when it comes to the Pocket S Mini, as it’s essentially just a smaller version of the original AYANEO Pocket S from 2024. Obviously, the difference here is that the Mini features a 4:3 display, as opposed to the 16:9 aspect ratio found on the Pocket S.
Nevertheless, to go along with the announcement of the Pocket S Mini’s release, AYANEO CEO Arthur Zhang had more to share in a statement on Discord:
Dear friends, based on the commitment of the previous AYANEO 2026 service upgrade plan, we have made the following optimizations for the release of the AYANEO Pocket S Mini:
- Synchronous release in overseas and Chinese markets.
- Allocate the first batch of production capacity equally between the Chinese and overseas markets.
- The shipping time frame should be consistent (it may not be possible to ship exactly at the same time point, such as on the same day, but it can be shipped within the same time frame).
- The channel for this listing is the AYANEO official online store, not the crowdfunding platform.
Thank you to all AYANEO fans for your support and attention. We will continue to improve our services and bring a better user experience to overseas players.Arthur Zhang
We’re hopeful that this is an indication that AYANEO is indeed making the drastic changes that it previously outlined. However, given all of the different livestreams and announcements made in the past couple of weeks, some of us still can’t shake the feeling this is just a wave of smoke and mirrors. Only time will tell.
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