Ayaneo Kun Windows gaming handheld arrives in US at Best Buy with a steep starting price alongside cheaper Ayaneo Next Lite

Ayaneo has been in the handheld gaming space for a long time, but it's been challenging for users to get their hands on the Windows-based consoles, with the company selling them only on platforms like Indiegogo and its own store. Now, however, Ayaneo has launched both the premium, 8.4-inch Ayaneo Kun and the more affordable Ayaneo Next Lite at Best Buy, offering more competition for the likes of the Steam Deck, entry-level Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go. 

However, pricing may be a challenging aspect for Ayaneo, given that the Ayaneo Kun's $999 retail price is just shy of $200 more expensive than its closest competitors in the Asus ROG Ally X (curr. $799.99 at Best Buy) and Lenovo Legion Go (curr. discounted to $599.99 at Best Buy). The Ayaneo Next Lite, however, presents a slightly more reasonable proposition at $399.

That said, there are reasons to go with the Ayaneo Kun over the likes of the Asus ROG Ally X and Legion Go. For starters, strategy gamers will likely enjoy the dual touchpads to either side of the 8.4-inch display. We also reviewed the Ayaneo Kun and were impressed by its long-lasting battery, handily beating out the likes of the Legion Go and original Asus ROG Ally by a solid 31% and 34% respectively — although the ROG Ally X still remains battery king among Windows handhelds.

The Kun has an identical screen resolution to the Legion Go, at 2560×1600p, although the Ayaneo tops out at 60 Hz, which may save power but will likely feel sluggish when navigating through Windows. We also found the Ayaneo Kun to be significantly brighter than the likes of the Legion Go, at 678 nits maximum brightness compared to the Legion Go's 413 nits.

Unfortunately, Best Buy only sells the Ayaneo Kun with 16 GB of RAM, which likely negates some of the 8–22% graphics performance lead over the ROG Ally and Legion Go that we saw in our review. The case and cooling, however, are still top-notch, with the Ayaneo Kun topping our CPU performance ratings with sustained performance in CPU benchmarks indicating superior cooling performance. 

Of course, there is also the matter of ports on the Ayaneo Kun, and here it again proves superior to the ROG Ally and Legion Go with two USB4 Type-C ports and a USB3.2 Gen2 Type-A port.