AYANEO's Pocket DS will easily handle emulation from NES to Switch, and everything in between

What you need to know

• AYANEO hosted a Sharing Session livestream, providing more details about the Pocket DS.
• Most of the specs have been revealed, as the Pocket DS will feature the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, not the G3 Gen 3.
• We don't yet know what the price will be or when it will become available.

It's been a busy week for the AYANEO team already, but so far, the Pocket DS has piqued our interest the most. During a recent livestream, AYANEO CEO Arthur Zhang revealed the specs that the Pocket DS will have once released.

What makes the Pocket DS stand out the most is obviously the clamshell form factor. However, unlike the Retroid Pocket Flip 2, the Pocket DS actually has both a top and bottom screen, giving it a distinct advantage for DS and 3DS emulation.

Both screens sport a 1080p resolution, but the main 7-inch display is an OLED panel with a variable refresh rate up to 165Hz. Meanwhile, the 5-inch lower screen is your standard LCD panel and lacks faster refresh rates beyond 60Hz.

That's not to say that the bottom screen should be ignored, as the 4:3 aspect ratio makes it perfect for a lot of retro gaming. AYANEO has also implemented a few tricks in the software to enhance the versatility, such as being able to use a "three-finger swipe" gesture to swap what's shown between the top and bottom screens.

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Pretty much everything about the Pocket DS looks incredible, including the 8,000mAh battery and ergonomic design. However, I was a bit surprised to see that AYANEO opted to implement the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, as opposed to the G3 Gen 3.

The former was announced in late 2023, before debuting in the AYANEO Pocket S in early 2024. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 was introduced earlier this year at GDC 2025, with the Pocket S2 and Pocket S2 Pro being the first two devices to utilize the chip.

The logical conclusion I could come up with is that the Pocket DS was already deep into development before the G3 Gen 3 was announced. As such, the company likely decided to "stay the current course," instead of making any potential changes to accommodate a new SoC.

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If that's the case, it would give AYANEO the flexibility to confirm that the Pocket DS is already in mass production. Usually, when a new AYANEO handheld is announced, it's at least a few months before it's actually released.

The decision to use the G3x Gen 2 might pay off in more ways than one, as we suspect (or hope) that the Pocket DS won't be too expensive. For reference, the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3-powered Pocket S2 starts at $499, with the S2 Pro coming in at $619.

Nevertheless, we'll be paying close attention to see exactly what AYANEO has planned for the price. There's already a sign-up page for the Indiegogo campaign, so you can be notified once it's live. From there, we can only hope that the Pocket DS will land on our doorsteps before the 2025 holiday season is underway.