We’re already almost at the midway point of March, and so far, there have been exactly ZERO Anbernic handhelds. It’s been quite the stark difference compared to last year when the company went 12 for 12 with new retro handheld releases. But that all might be about to change.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve heard rumblings of Anbernic potentially gearing up for its first launch of 2025. However, instead of being a device that hits you with nostalgia feels, we could be looking at a successor to the RG556.

As it turns out, the first indication of this came from CES 2025, as at least one person managed to get some brief hands-on time with a few of Anbernic’s supposed handhelds. One of which looks like someone combined the GameSir G8 with a Razer Edge-like tablet.

This handheld is said to be powered by a “Snapdragon Custom G2” processor, paired with 8GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen display. After doing a bit of research, the RG557 will most likely be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G2 Gen 1, which was first introduced back in 2023. If this is the case, then we should be in store for a decent performance boost over the Unisoc T820 from the RG556.

Curiously, there’s no mention of whether this supposed Anbernic RG557 would retain the OLED display panel. This was one of the biggest reasons to spring for the RG556, as it was one of the few affordable retro handhelds to be equipped with an AMOLED screen. But it also wouldn’t come as a surprise to see Anbernic move back to an IPS screen in order to lower costs.

Provided that the leaked product listing comes to fruition, those hoping for a more traditional retro handheld might also be in luck. Despite not knowing specifics, this second handheld could shape up to be even more exciting than the RG557.

According to the listing, this “Retro Console” offers the following:

“Free DIY shell keys, Small and portable to meet the needs of players custom pocket handheld. CPU optional 4770-700H or other, the system is equipped with GKD to childhood.”

Although the Chinese-to-English translation doesn’t seem to be accurate, there were two interesting points. The first of which are the “Free DIY shell keys,” meaning that we could see a handheld with customizable shells, similar to what we’ve seen from GameSir’s various controllers.

The other bit of interesting information is the chipset, which is supposedly the “4770-700H or other.” This might just be wishful thinking, but considering that Anbernic hasn’t used the 4770 since the RG300X, I’m of the mindset that it will actually be the H700.

Now, we just have to hope that Anbernic decides to randomly surprise everyone by announcing its next handheld sooner rather than later.

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