AYANEO Pocket Air: AYANEO responds to AYN Odin2 with Qualcomm Snapdragon version of its AMOLED gaming handheld

According to various sources, AYANEO is shaking up it Pocket Air offering pre-launch. Previously, the company had announced that the Pocket Air would rely upon the MediaTek Dimensity 1200, a mid-range chipset that powers the GPD XP Plus and that which we have reviewed in the OnePlus Nord 2 5G and Xiaomi 11T. However, it appears that AYANEO has felt the pressure from AYN Technologies, whose Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered gaming handheld will launch tomorrow on Indiegogo from US$299.

According to our database, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 enjoys a 1.77x average performance advantage over the Dimensity 1200. While a narrower gap exists between their GPUs, a 1.27x improvement for the Adreno 740 compared to the Mali-G77 MP9 would still be noticeable in all kinds of games. Considering that the Odin managed to extract unmatched performance levels from the Snapdragon 845 thanks to its active cooling solution, we suspect that the Odin2 will manage the same feat with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Now, ETA Prime claims to 'have it on good authority' that AYANEO has decided to offer two Pocket Air versions, one with the Dimensity 1200 and a second that relies upon the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Although AYANEo has not confirmed pricing for either model yet, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be a more expensive chipset to source than the Dimensity 1200, thereby likely increasing the price of the associated Snapdragon model. Currently, ETA Prime expects AYANEO to begin selling both Pocket Air versions at the end of August on Indiegogo.

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