Arc X1 is a new Android handheld with a 7-inch display and a near 10,000mAh battery

Most Android Android-powered handhelds are from Chinese manufacturers such as Ayaneo, Ayn, Anbernic, and Retroid. Now, an Indian brand called Arc is about to enter into the market with its first handheld, which is called the Arc X1.

The Arc X1 has a 7-inch touch display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 1920  x1080 resolution. The LCD panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and has a peak brightness of 500+ nits. Powering it is the Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 processor, the same one inside the discontinued Retroid Pocket G2.

The processor is paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage and there's a microSD card slot for adding up to an additional 1TB of storage. The Arc X1 has Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.4, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port with support for display output. It also has stereo speakers, noise-cancelling microphones, and an audio jack.

The X1 packs a massive 9,300mAh battery capacity which is significantly larger than the 8,000mAh battery inside the Lenovo C700, whose screen is 7.82 inches. It charges at up to 27W with support for Power Delivery. Arc says users should get over 8 hours of use from a single charge, while standby time is advertised as up to 10 days. That big battery makes it a bit heavy at nearly 500 grams

With respect to its design, the Arc X1 has a polycarbonate body with an oleophobic coating on the back. It is available in black and features asymmetrical TMR thumbsticks with RGB rings, textured ergonomic grips, and an owl-shaped intake vent on the back for the cooling fan.

The shoulder buttons stick out, and like the adjustable triggers with trigger locks, they are textured. It also has two back buttons, a six-axis gyroscope, and a micro-switch D-pad and ABXY buttons. Its dual speakers sit below the display, while the power and volume buttons are at the top.

The Arc X1 runs OwlOS built on top of AOSP. Arc describes it as a controller-first UI with support for native Android gaming and cloud gaming. It should also run PC games using apps such as Winlator, GameNative, and GameHub. Players will be able to adjust performance modes and create performance profiles on a per game basis. Arc says OTA firmware updates will be available. It has also revealed that it will make available parts such as batteries, joysticks, and daughterboards.

The Arc X1 is priced at ₹33,500 (~$349/€305), but members of its community will be able to purchase it for ₹29,500 (~$307/€269). With its specs, it is a close rival of the Ayn Odin 2 Portal (available on Amazon for $359) which also has a 7-inch 120Hz display, albeit an OLED panel, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and an 8,000mAh battery capacity. 

There's a waitlist you can join for the Arc X1, but reservations don't open until October 2 and requires a token pay. The first batch of orders are expected to begin shipping in Q1 2027.