AYANEO tries to innovate with its future handheld console, which could be released early next year.
Since the release of the Steam Deck, the number of portable consoles has exploded. ASUS, Lenovo, MSI, OneXPlayer, Valve, Zotac... the manufacturers are numerous, and the models even more so. To stand out, some rely on their operating system (Valve and its SteamOS), while others prefer to focus on battery capacity (ASUS and the ROG Ally X) or screen size (Lenovo and the 8.8-inch Legion Go). AYANEO has tried various approaches, but for its next console, the Chinese company has opted for a new channel of innovation: controllers.
© AYANEO
The AYANEO 3 - that's the name we know it by at the moment - will be powered by an AMD Ryzen AI HX 370 processor backed by a Radeon 890M iGPU or a Ryzen 7 8840U and its Radeon 780M iGPU. The inner workings of the beast have yet to be confirmed by AYANEO, which is also maintaining the mystery surrounding the screen technology of its new console - LCD or OLED? On the other hand, AYANEO went on at length to talk about the new controller system it has imagined for this future machine: modular controllers similar to what some joystick manufacturers such as Thrustmaster have already tried.
© AYANEO
The idea here is to place the mini-sticks and buttons on blocks that can be exchanged as simply as possible. The blocks available could be very varied, but AYANEO has highlighted blocks with a mini-stick, a classic or "disc"-style directional cross, four action buttons, six action buttons and a touchpad. We can therefore imagine ergonomics based on Xbox (asymmetrical sticks) or PlayStation (symmetrical sticks) standards, but also Steam Deck touchpads or more action buttons for fans of Street Fighter-style fighting games. For the time being, AYANEO has given no information on the availability date of its future AYANEO 3 and, more importantly, has not said at what price the machine will be sold. We hope the modular blocks won't be too much of an extra cost, of course.
