Color us surprised as Anbernic has announced a new handheld this morning, promising “A New Core,” “A New Frontier,” and a new naming scheme. The Anbernic RG 55G1 officially broke cover in a teaser trailer video on YouTube, and it might just be the company’s first Snapdragon-powered handheld.
As is usually the case with these early teasers, the video itself is not very long, but shows off the RG 55G1 in the three different colors that it will be available in. Anbernic is also giving us a bit of an idea of what to expect, as the video revealed that the RG 55G1 will include the following features and colors:
- Double-shot Buttons
- 3D Hall-Effect Joysticks
- Full-screen 2.5D Glass
- Hall-Effect Triggers
- Indigo, Retro Gray, and Black
It didn’t take long for the community to start drawing comparisons with Anbernic’s latest handheld. Many immediately jumped to comparing it to the Retroid Pocket 3 or Pocket 4, while others posited that the RG 55G1 looks more like a Switch Lite. There’s no denying that it definitely draws inspiration from those handhelds, but there’s also something that about it that looks the MANGMI Air X.
Design and looks aside, the big story here is that Anbernic is changing up its naming scheme for the first time in years. Previously, it was pretty easy to discern what a handheld might have just based on the name. Let’s use the RG40XXV as an example:
- RG = Retro Game
- 40 = Screen Size (4.0-inches)
- XX = Allwinner H700 SoC
- V = Vertical
Now let’s apply that same kind of logic to the RG 55G1:
- RG = Retro Game
- 55 = 5.5-inch screen
- G1 = Processor
Although it’s not yet confirmed “G1” is likely in reference to either the Snapdragon G2 Gen 1 (G2G1), or the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 (G1G2). This would be huge for Anbernic, marking the first time its releasing a handheld powered by a Qualcomm processor, as the company has largely relied on MediaTek, Allwinner, and RockChip processors in the past.
While powerful, MediaTek processors lack the same level of driver support found with their Qualcomm counterparts. Because of this, higher-end emulation, such as for the Switch or Windows via GameHub/GameNative is much more volatile compared to even the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 found in the Retroid Pocket Classic.
Nevertheless, I’m sure we won’t have much longer to wait to learn more about the Anbernic RG 55G1 and what it aims to bring to the market. It also could mark the second handheld announced this week, after the AYANEO Pocket Micro 2, that’s powered by a Snapdragon chip.
