ayaneo

Ayaneo is no stranger to Android handhelds, but now it’s turning attention towards an arguably less competitive landscape: smartphones.

Slider phones are a core memory for many, between the classic QWERTY phones of the early 2000’s to Sony’s iconic Xperia Play phone that packed a physical game controller inside of a phone. Now, that form factor is seemingly making a comeback as Ayaneo is teasing its first gaming phone.

Ayaneo is one of the biggest players in the booming retro gaming handheld scene, but if you prefer to keep your hobbies under a certain budget, you probably wouldn’t know it. While the company makes some of the finest gaming-focused hardware on the market, it doesn’t come cheap — most of the brand’s devices start around the $400 or $500 mark, and only go up from there. But with the Pocket AIR Mini, Ayaneo is finally expanding into the budget gaming space, and depending on what you prefer to play, it could be the handheld to beat.