R36 Max 2: New retro handheld revealed with several upgrades over older model

It seems that a new version of the R36 Max will soon be upon us. To recap, the R36 Max landed last year with a few unusual details compared to competing retro handhelds (curr. $49.95 on Amazon). Equipped with a 4-inch display, the R36 Max offers a 1:1 aspect ratio with a 720p native resolution.

Now, Retro Gaming with Deadfred has discovered information about a so-called R36 Max 2. Surprisingly, the new handheld is expected to retain Rockchip's outdated RK3326 chipset. Thus, the R36 Max 2 will only have four ARM Cortex-A35 CPU cores and a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU at its disposal.

However, the device will expand to a 4.5-inch IPS display. Not only that, but Game Console has switched its aspect ratio to 4:3 with a 1,024 x 768-pixel resolution. The company has arguably improved ergonomics too by switching the d-pad and left joystick around. Pricing and availability remain unknown for now. The image below likely comes from a retail listing, though. Hence, we would expect a global launch to occur within the next month or so.