As we've said before on the site, the Retroid Pocket 6 hasn't necessarily had the smoothest or most conventional of roads to release.
Following its original announcement in October 2025, for instance, its manufacturer, Retroid, withdrew the device from sale in response to online criticism and allowed its fans to pick a new design.
This resulted in Retroid taking the somewhat unconventional approach of releasing the same handheld with two different control configurations, based on feedback from the retro community.
It appears, however, as revealed in a recent Discord message, that the issues with the device haven't stopped there, with Retroid also announcing over the weekend that the handheld will be subject to a staggered release, due to the Retroid Pocket 6's OLED screen (thanks, Android Authority!).
More specifically, the delay in sending out certain units appears to stem from a production slowdown caused by "efficiency limitations in the RP6 OLED screen calibration/demura process" and the factory it uses having little experience with OLED calibration/demura.
Retroid states, "We will only be able to ship around 100+ units of the black (Joystick on top) next Monday", referring to the Monday just gone (January 19th), but claims it has already come up with a fix, having purchased a brand new parallel demura calibration system, which "allows up to 12 pcs OLED panels to be calibrated and OTP programmed at a time". This was reportedly installed and debugged in the factory yesterday.
As a result, Retroid expects "screen production capacity... to increase by approximately 10×" starting from today, with mass shipments anticipated to begin on Wednesday, January 21st.
The first units to ship, according to Retroid, will be the black editions of the Retroid Pocket 6 (both the stick on top and d-pad on top versions), with the company stating, "To minimize efficiency losses from production line changeovers and to maintain fairness in order fulfillment, we will aim to produce two colors simultaneously each working day."
Of course, this delay isn't ideal for anyone who has purchased the device, but judging from Retroid's statement, it appears this is thankfully only a minor bump in the road.