Ayaneo Is Delivering A $299 Steam Deck Competitor

When it comes to the gaming handheld market, there are quite a few options out there. However, it wasn’t until the Valve Steam Deck launched that more competitors jumped in on the race. There’s a push to sell gaming handhelds that can perform well and deliver an option to enjoy your PC gaming on the go. However, these devices can be pretty pricey. Still, that hasn’t stopped competitors from bringing their own PC gaming handheld into the marketplace. One of the big competitors that has offered some expensive handhelds in the past is Ayaneo.

Today, we’re finding out that Ayaneo is trying to come in at a competitive price with their Ayaneo Next Lite. This could be something to entice consumers over to Ayaneo and away from the dominant Steam Deck. However, it doesn’t have the best CPU right now, so we might have to see how well this device performs when it launches into the marketplace. But the real story circulating online is that the Ayaneo Next Lite has an entry price point of $299.

That’s a significant drop in price compared to the Valve Steam Deck, and thanks to a report from Engadget, we’re finding out that this device is going to come with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U. This device comes with 16 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD. Fortunately, two other models come at a bump in price, so you can expand on storage to even jump up to the AMD Ryzen 7 4800U. However, some consumers talked about this system being boasted of as coming with SteamOS. However, we’re finding out now that there is a bit more to the story here.

Apparently, this SteamOS is not the official software, and it’s not going to be supported necessarily by Valve. Instead, this product will use a third-party SteamOS, which is called HoloISO. That might be a bit disappointing for some players, but if you’re not fond of SteamOS, there will be an option just to run Windows. Outside of that, you’ll find a 7” 800p display and Hall joysticks, which are becoming standard. That should remove any potential for joystick drift. With the device slated to launch on February 10, 2024, we should see some reviews pop up to compare this device with the Steam Deck and if it’s worth saving your money to get this handheld or if you’re better off steering clear from this particular model.