AYA NEO AIR: Pre-orders open for compact gaming handheld with an OLED display

AYA NEO is now accepting pre-orders for the AIR in China, having teased the device's specifications earlier this month. To recap, AYA NEO bills the AIR as its entry-level offering, with the new AYA NEO 2 and AYA NEO Slide serving as its flagship machines. Accordingly, while the AYA NEO 2 and AYA NEO Slide will feature the Ryzen 7 6800U with RDNA 2 graphics, the AYA NEO AIR will rely on a lesser AMD Barcelo APU that bundles the older RX Vega graphics architecture.

Still, AYA NEO promises that the AIR will be capable of running AAA titles, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 5 and GTA V. The AIR surpasses AYA NEO's other products in some ways, though. Namely, the console should weigh less than 420 g, making it more lightweight than the Switch OLED. Also, the AYA NEO AIR has an OLED display, compared to the IPS ones with which AYA NEO equips its other machines. As such, the AYA NEO AIR should provide superior colour reproduction than the original AYA NEO, although the quality of AYA NEO's OLED display remains to be seen at this point.

Currently, AYA NEO is selling the AIR for CNY 4,399 (~US$649) in China. Seemingly, AYA NEO will reveal more specifications after its pre-order period ends on May 18. Unfortunately, it is unclear when AYA NEO will introduce the AIR globally. Presumably, the company will do so through a crowdfunding campaign, as does it has done for previous products.

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