Retroid Pocket 6 arrives with a new design, upgraded chip, and bigger battery for $229

When Retroid announced a permanent price cut for some of its handhelds, including the Retroid Pocket 5, earlier this month, there were speculations that it was preparing to launch a new product(s). Those speculations turned out to be true following the announcement of a launch scheduled for October 27. That day has arrived, and Retroid has launched not one but two new handhelds, including the Retroid Pocket 6.

The Retroid Pocket 6 arrives just a little over a year after the release of the Retroid Pocket 5, and it comes with several upgrades. However, before delving into the specs, it's worth noting that there are some design changes. Available in six colors, the Retroid Pocket 6 has rounder sides compared to the previous generation. It is almost like the AYN Odin 2 Mini.

Another major design change is the presence of an array of buttons below the screen, flanked by speakers on each side. The Retroid Pocket 6 also has a new D-Pad, but like the ABXY buttons, it is surrounded by a circle. What hasn't changed is the position of the thumbsticks, which are still symmetrical. Some have expressed their disappointment at Retroid sticking to this design, while others are happy that the left joystick's positions remained unchanged.

The Retroid Pocket 6 has a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, like the Retroid Pocket 5. However, the display now refreshes at 120Hz, an upgrade over the 60Hz refresh rate of the previous generation. The Retroid Pocket 6 has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 865 of the Pocket 5. It will be available in 8GB RAM and 12GB RAM (LPDDR5x) variants with 128GB and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, respectively.

Under the hood is a bigger 6,000mAh battery with support for 27W fast wired charging. The Retroid Pocket 6 also has a USB 3.1 Type-C port with support for DisplayPort (4K at 60fps). It also has an audio jack, a MicroSD card slot, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3. Like the Retroid Pocket 5 (available on Amazon for $259), it runs Android 13 out of the box.

The Retroid Pocket 6 is priced at $229 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the 12GB RAM + 256GB version will sell for $279. However, buyers who pre-order will be able to buy the base model for $209 and the higher configuration for $259. Unfortunately, Retroid hasn't revealed when pre-orders will begin for the new Android-powered handheld.