AYANEO has announced the first handheld as part of its new "entry level, high value" Code R range, which it is calling the Pocket Air Mini.
The new retro emulation device, according to the initial teaser image posted online, will include a 4.2-inch, 4:3 display at 1280x960 resolution, and also lists "perfect point-to-point rendering for N64, PS, and Dreamcast" among its many features. No price, release date, or other in-depth specs have been revealed just yet, leaving a lot still up to speculation, but the company is promising as part of the announcement that it will offer a "premium experience" at an "entry level price".
Of course, if you've been following AYANEO's activities closely over the last few months, you'd be forgiven for thinking that last sentence is perhaps a little strange. After all, didn't AYANEO recently establish a "budget" sub brand called KONKR that it announced would be home to its "more affordable" offerings? Surely, you'd think, it would make more sense for the company to release all of its budget offerings under the same umbrella.
Well, it appears AYANEO has different ideas, with the company clearly deciding to market this Pocket Air Mini as an AYANEO product, rather than as part of this KONKR label.
A couple of months, in case you're unaware, AYANEO revealed the first product that it would be releasing under this new KONKR sub brand would be the KONKR Pocket Fit. This has since been announced to include two different versions. This includes the KONKR Pocket ($329), a device featuring a Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chipset and a 6-inch 1080P 144Hz high-refresh rate screen, and the more expensive KONKR Pocket Elite ($399) which will reportedly include the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
The only explanation we can think of, therefore, for why the Pocket AIR Mini isn't included is that AYANEO is perhaps saving KONKR for its more powerful modern gaming devices, whereas Code R will be for less cutting edge machines aimed at retro gaming first and foremost.