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After releasing the AYA NEO 2021 and the AYA NEO 2021 Pro last year, handheld gaming PC startup AYA NEO is back with another product: the AYA NEO NEXT. It will pack an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U APU, bear a new form factor with integrated handgrips and interchangeable joystick. The latter also feature Hall effect-based joysticks from GuliKit that bypasses the notorious stick drift. More spec details can be found below:

The company is calling it the "next-generation" of Windows handheld as it is the first gaming handheld to pack the 5800U APU. The closest competitor is the ONEXPLAYER (AMD Ryzen 7 5700U) which retails for $1,419. The NEXT will actually be a family of devices made of the AYA NEO NEXT Advance, AYA NEO NEXT and AYA NEO NEXT Pro. The AYA NEO NEXT starts at a launch price of $1265 and its retail prices will go up to $1315. The AYA NEO NEXT Pro has a launch price of $1465 and a retail price of $1565. More details about the models can be found below:

While AMD revealed the promising 6000 Series mobile processors at CES yesterday, these won't be available till later during the year. So the edge that AYA NEO is taking with the NEXT is a device that can be shipped sooner. To that effect, they plan to launch an Indiegogo campaign in February and ship backer units in March. While the NEXT is still considerably pricier than the Steam Deck, it's interesting to see smaller companies still investing in this niche market and will be worth keeping an eye on what this competition will bring in terms of innovation as each company attempt to stand out from the rest.

UPDATE:

Shortly after the announcement, the AYA NEO NEXT Advance was sold out and the company updated the specs details of the other two models to specify that they will use the AMD 5825U chips instead of the 5800U. You can see the new specs details on the website and on the screenshot below:

AYA NEO NEXT Official Website

 

[ganons]

 

[eriol33]

AMD Radeon for 1500? They are trying to milk too much profit.

The scalpers can have them

 

[xatzimi]

The Steam Deck starts at $399. Every other handheld PC is well into the 1000+ range. How can anything else compete?

 

[Guacaholey]

It is surprising that nobody has used magnet sensors for joysticks since Dreamcast. It was an uber-simple method and pretty reliable. No wearing, zero drifting, smaller form factor and more accuracy.

Nintendo really should've gone this route. Microsoft and Sony's (newer) controllers generally have enough physical resistance that they're pretty accurate. The Joycons at the very least are not very accurate anything but the gentlest push seems to register as being pressed all the way, and it's just sad that unlicensed third party controllers perform better than Nintendo's own at a fraction of the cost. There really wasn't any reason they couldn't have used bigger more durable analogue sticks too since the Switch isn't pocket sized like the 3DS.

 

[Guacaholey]

Switch Joycons and Valve Index controllers can get stick drift in a matter of months. It's a real issue that Valve has struggled with in the past and it seems like they are worried the Steam Deck will also suffer from it - hence why they said right away they'll be making replacement sticks available officially. Slim form factor analog sticks are more likely to suffer from it, it's a real issue that needs to be solved.

It's probably all they can get. They aren't a big company that can afford to make a huge order of custom-made SoCs like Valve did, they have to stick with what's available off the shelf, and that limits them to Vega.

The Switch Joycons can develop drift in a matter of weeks.

Hope the Chinese manufacturers get in on this style and start outputting lower end/spec machines for around £350 instead of recycling that same old tired Android chipset they have been.

Its a great idea but the prices they want for the high end specs are ridiculous whilst most of us just want better portable emulation via faster speeds and better supported Windows emulation apps.

Make it happen Chinese devs, I know you read this forum.

You'd be getting a really crappy system for that price. Valve can only afford the $400~ for the base Steam Deck because they make so much money on digital game sales. Unless Tencent is making a handheld PC there's no way anything good could come for near the Deck's price.

 

[Deleted member 42501]

Really impressive in action.

 

[Prans]

Apparently, the AYA NEO NEXT Advance model has been sold out since it has been announced and the company clarified that they will use the AMD 5825U chips instead of the 5800U in the two other models. The post has been updated to reflect this information.

 

[Kioku]

Can't imagine sinking money into this knowing the Steam Deck is going to be a thing. Oh well.

 

[Chris_Dai_Gyakuten_Saiban]

Can't imagine sinking money into this knowing the Steam Deck is going to be a thing. Oh well.

Even before the Steam Deck I thought that things like these weren't worth it, I too am glad that the Steam Deck is a better alternative, also did you preorder a Steam Deck too?

 

[Kioku]

Even before the Steam Deck I thought that things like these weren't worth it, I too am glad that the Steam Deck is a better alternative, also did you preorder a Steam Deck too?

I did, but canceled and got a laptop instead

 

[djpannda]

just saw this review,
although not a big fan of BeatEmups, he mades good honest points.
1. He complains his other AYA NEO is dead, it was because he was using wrong charges and that makes me worried but how to power it without official charger.
2. Xbox controller support was off and on.
AYA NEOs are for MR. Moneybags

 

[Guacaholey]

just saw this review,
although not a big fan of BeatEmups, he mades good honest points.
1. He complains his other AYA NEO is dead, it was because he was using wrong charges and that makes me worried but how to power it without official charger.
2. Xbox controller support was off and on.
AYA NEOs are for MR. Moneybags

They have to be expensive because AYA NEO or whatever the company is called can't make up for losses with software sales like Steam can.