The AYANEO NEXT, the AMD Ryzen 7 line of handheld gaming PC from AYANEO, has officially launched its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign; and within a few hours has exceeded its funding goal of £49,606. Early bird units go for $1285 for the 1TB/5825U model and $1385 for the 2TB/5825U model. Each comes with a carry case and a screen protector.

While it seems like the company didn't set a high funding goal, it might be taking an approach similar to GPD to use the campaign to gauge interest in the device. Earlier models of the AYANEO NEXT, in particular the Advance, were already produced and have been shipping, so it wasn't really a question whether these would actually be produced or not based on the campaign. With the 306% of the campaign's initial goal reached (at the time of writing), it seems like the demand for such devices is still there and we will likely see more models available for consumers in the future. Moreover, the campaign's launch also closely coincides with the release of the Steam Deck; probably to entice potential buyers who can't get their hands on the latter and this might have played in the favour of the campaign.

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To learn more about the AYANEO NEXT, be sure to check out our official review linked below!

AYANEO NEXT Indiegogo Campaign
AYANEO NEXT Advance Official GBAtemp Review

 

[Reploid]

Is there a point now?

 

[Veho]

the campaign's launch also closely coincides with the release of the Steam Deck; probably to entice potential buyers who can't get their hands on the latter and this might have played in the favour of the campaign.​

Yeah I can just about see people going "hmmm, I didn't catch the $400 device preorder, let me pay $1300+ for the alternative".

 

[Prans]

Yeah I can just about see people going "hmmm, I didn't catch the $400 device preorder, let me pay $1300+ for the alternative".

it's more about people in regions that the Steam Deck isn't available (which I think many still forget)

 

[Veho]

it's more about people in regions that the Steam Deck isn't available (which I think many still forget)

I just feel that with all the alternatives available, I don't think the Steam Deck or its (un)availability had any major impact on the campaign. People wanted this device specifically.

 

[Deleted member 42501]

This entire section of handheld PCs is way larger than the Steam Deck (pun and irony intended). Just like there is way more to small, cheap home emulation devices than Raspberry Pi and yet folks keep bleating on about those two whenever someone mentions something else.

Not everyone has the same tastes nor cares for the drawbacks the cheapest possible options brings.

 

[subcon959]

The Zen 3 5825u is considerably better than Steam Deck's Zen 2 part so they aren't really in the same market segment.

 

[64bitmodels]

ok while i do cap for the steam deck people going "no point, steam deck exists and is 100x cheaper" or "why bother when steam deck exists" need to shut the fuck up. Just because the deck is far cheaper doesnt mean that we should be completely apathetic alternatives. hell if aya gets enough support, they could be able to take a loss on their next PC handheld. I want this market to flourish, not be entirely monopolized by valve and valve only. that's exactly what happened with nintendo handhelds and well... you know what happened there

 

[Bladexdsl]

if it has better game compatibility than the deck than it may have a better chance

 

[tech3475]

ok while i do cap for the steam deck people going "no point, steam deck exists and is 100x cheaper" or "why bother when steam deck exists" need to shut the fuck up. Just because the deck is far cheaper doesnt mean that we should be completely apathetic alternatives. hell if aya gets enough support, they could be able to take a loss on their next PC handheld. I want this market to flourish, not be entirely monopolized by valve and valve only. that's exactly what happened with nintendo handhelds and well... you know what happened there

I can see most of the ultra portable makers either shifting to niches or higher end devices like this.

Valve’s main advantage is that they can invoke the ‘razor and blade’ model, where as Aya, etc. will need to either profit from the hardware or do stuff software wise e.g. push their services, ****ware, etc. which I can see failing for the most part and annoying consumers.

For now at least, I can see Valve basically owning the lower end of the market.

To be clear, I’m not ****ing on Aya, I would say they’re making the logical move with devices like this which can still compete but in a different way.

 

[tech3475]

if it has better game compatibility than the deck than it may have a better chance

Steam Deck can run Windows though, granted it’s not OOTB but it‘s still there.

 

[64bitmodels]

I can see most of the ultra portable makers either shifting to niches or higher end devices like this.

Valve’s main advantage is that they can invoke the ‘razor and blade’ model, where as Aya, etc. will need to either profit from the hardware or do stuff software wise e.g. push their services, ****ware, etc. which I can see failing for the most part and annoying consumers.

For now at least, I can see Valve basically owning the lower end of the market.

To be clear, I’m not ****ing on Aya, I would say they’re making the logical move with devices like this which can still compete but in a different way.

valve makes more profit from more people getting into their ecosystem and dumping windows which is what the steam deck is trying to do

 

[tech3475]

valve makes more profit from more people getting into their ecosystem and dumping windows which is what the steam deck is trying to do

My Windows comment was aimed at the people complaining about compatibility, acting as if it’s a closed system.

edit:

I also mentioned the ‘razor and blade’ model.

 

[Xzi]

ok while i do cap for the steam deck people going "no point, steam deck exists and is 100x cheaper" or "why bother when steam deck exists" need to shut the fuck up. Just because the deck is far cheaper doesnt mean that we should be completely apathetic alternatives. hell if aya gets enough support, they could be able to take a loss on their next PC handheld. I want this market to flourish, not be entirely monopolized by valve and valve only. that's exactly what happened with nintendo handhelds and well... you know what happened there

I very much doubt that any of these Chinese startups will ever have any interest in taking a loss on product sales. It'd have to be another major player in the tech market like ASUS. And even then I wouldn't hold my breath. Valve will never have a monopoly on portable PCs, but at the moment they do seemingly have a monopoly on treating PC gamers well.

 

[ZeroFX]

steam deck.

 

[Prior22]

How often are these new portable pc’s going to be released by Aya? Is this going to be a near yearly thing? And will the CPU upgrades with each new version likely be substantial?

 

[lordelan]

valve makes more profit from more people getting into their ecosystem and dumping windows which is what the steam deck is trying to do

Not really. They don't have any ecosystem yet. SteamOS is just Arch with Steam preinstalled.
It makes no difference if their users buy their games from within Linux or Windows or Mac.
They can build up an ecosystem now though.
And they are happy if they don't have to rely on Windows in the first place. That's the sole reason they started all their Linux and Proton stuff.

 

[HideoKojima]

Anyone else wanna start a project to make a dock station for this?

 

[HellGhast]

it's more about people in regions that the Steam Deck isn't available (which I think many still forget)

Good point. I tried to pre-ordered the $400 steam deck but I got locked out coz of my region.

Although personally I'd never fork out $1,300 for a handheld, if I had that much disposable cash I'd instead buy a Ps5. Valve's $400 is the sweet-spot for a handheld.

 

[omgcat]

Anyone else wanna start a project to make a dock station for this?

the aya neos can dock with a USB c dock. as long as it is not a thunderbolt dock, it'll work. i got an anker 7 in 1 dock for mine. you can 3d print stands that are compatible for a dock.