In another surprise announcement, AYN confirmed that the next round, Batch 6 of Thor and Batch 7 of Odin 3 pre-orders, “will soon be opening.” The company also announced major changes to both devices, as they will “transition to UFS 3.1 moving forward,” a downgrade from the UFS 4.0 storage on existing models.
Additionally, the AYN Thor Max with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage will be increased to $549, in an effort to “maintain the existing pricing for Thor Base and Pro models.” Lastly, AYN is introducing a new SKU to the Thor lineup, as a 16GB/512GB model will be added, and is priced at $469.
Moving forward, here’s how the Thor’s pricing lineup now looks:
- Thor
- Lite (SD865/8GB/128GB) – $249
- Base (8GB/128GB) – $319
- Pro (12GB/256GB) – $399
- Max (16GB/512GB) – $469
- Max (16GB/1TB) – $549
So not only are prices increasing for the higher-spec models, but storage modules are also being downgraded across the board. This is obviously pretty disappointing; however, it really becomes apparent when you compare the speeds and efficiency between UFS 3.1 and UFS 4.0. According to a breakdown from Blackview, here’s what you can expect:
- UFS 3.1
- Sequential Read Speeds: Up to 2100 MB/s
- Sequential Write Speeds: Up to 1200 MB/s
- Power Efficiency: Improved over UFS 3.0, but still more power-hungry compared to UFS 4.0.
- UFS 4.0
- Sequential Read Speeds: Up to 4200 MB/s
- Sequential Write Speeds: Up to 2800 MB/s
- Power Efficiency: Up to 46% more efficient than UFS 3.1, leading to longer battery life.
That’s a 50% decrease in Read Speeds, and over 50% decrease in Write Speeds. For the majority of retro game emulation, you likely won’t notice much of a difference or an issue. However, when you start getting into Switch, Xbox, PS3, and PC gaming, you’ll likely start seeing performance issues that can’t be remedied by switching to a different Turnip driver.
For the sake of comparison, the AYANEO Pocket DS with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage currently starts at $519, with the 16GB/1TB model priced at $719. By that logic, the AYN Thor still offers a better value over the Pocket DS, but you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons with the slower storage and smaller displays.
8 Comments
Remember they are going to blame price increases on tariffs, but they won’t reduce prices when the next administration nullifies the tariffs. So, in reality, it’s all about profits.
Now that’s an innovative concept: moving backwards. Ayn no way!
This is really cool!!
I was saving up for a Pro or Max version and came to terms with the recent price jump. This, however, is not ok. Not only is it more expensive but we’re now paying more for an inferior product compared to earlier batches. The problem with switching from UFS 4.0 to 3.1 is not just the write speed being cut in half, it’s the decreased overall efficiency. I wish I could’ve gotten one sooner cause at this point I’m not going to buy one. Just my opinion of course but this no longer seems like the great deal it initially was. I really hope they either lower the price to match the downgrade in hardware or keep the 4.0 and slightly increase the price….I doubt they will.
Guess I’ll just stick with the device I have.
I guess they are going to loose not only my order then…
It was hard to justify my purchase anyways, this will make easier to let it go. I’m well served.
Your better off getting an oled steam deck or a redmagic 11 pro cell phone
I actually pre-ordered one of these. Looks like I’mm have to cancel the pre-order if I’m getting an inferior product than advertised.
This is complete nonsense and should be illegal.
Never buying from AYN ever again.