Competition in the handheld gaming PC space is heating up yet again with AYA NEO releasing more teaser material for its upcoming NEXT II model - an estimated late 2023 launch is touted. This model was first revealed last year, with the company choosing to drip feed information since then. We know that it will sport an 8-inch IPS display and be powered by an AMD Ryzen 7000 series APU, plus an unspecified discrete GPU. The ASUS ROG Ally handheld is similarly equipped with AMD mobile chipsets (albeit in slightly "Z1" and "Z1 Extreme" customized forms), but an integrated GPU takes care of graphics processing. In contrast the AYA NEO NEXT II has been designed to temper an APU and dGPU combination that can pull up to 100 W of power, so this package will offer far less portability when compared to the competition.

AYA NEO appears to be branching out in the creation of larger handheld gaming computers - the NEXT II is the chunkiest example so far - with more sizable options marked for release in the future. Comparisons to Valve's Steam Deck have been made due to AYA NEO's debuting of touchpads for this model - yet this new contender is a different beast thanks to a more traditional control layout and the system's reliance on a power outlet being nearby to sustain lengthy gaming sessions. The "semi-portable" nature of the NEXT II (plus proposed successors) is a curious prospect - will its unparalleled performance potential be enough to attract buyers or will its appeal be limited by being anchored to indoor environments?

AYANEO hosted a product showcase stream on their YouTube channel which went deep into the technical details of their upcoming AYANEO 2S refresh to last year's AYANEO 2. The new handheld console features some major improvements under the hood which include AMD's Ryzen 7 7840U with Radeon 780M graphics, LPDDR5X-7500 and a cooling system redesign. The Ryzen 7 7840U is similar to the recently announced Ryzen Z1 Extreme that the ASUS ROG Ally can be equipped with, both SoCs bringing 8 "Zen 4" cores and a 12CU RDNA3 graphics engine down to a TDP of 15 W. The cooling system for this SoC has been upgraded to a triple heatpipe array soldered to a copper heatspreader which AYANEO is dubbing their "3+1" cooling design. They claim the new design drops SoC load temperatures by as much as 11.6C, and that it has 33% more surface area compared to the previous generation AYANEO 2. AYANEO also claims optimizations to the fit and finish with the body and trigger assemblies being improved to better fit the hand as well as aid in ease of disassembly. Other specifications have remained mostly unchanged such as the 7-inch 1920x1200 IPS display, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB base configuration SSD.

AYANEO have recently announced the Air Plus handheld gaming console featuring the new Mendocino processor from AMD with an expected retail price of 289 USD. The Mendocino processor features the same Zen 2 and RDNA 2 cores found in the Steam Deck however the exact configuration and performance figures are currently unknown with rumors suggested that the processor will only include 2 Compute Units. The AYANEO Air Plus can run the Linux-based AYA Neo OS, Windows, or Steam OS and features a 6" 1080p display in addition to a M.2 2280 expansion slot. The console will retail for 289 USD undercutting the Steam Deck by 60 USD while a limited early run of units will be available for 200 USD later this year.

AYANEO has recently announced the AYANEO 2 featuring AMD's latest "Rembrandt" Ryzen 7 6800U APU with Zen 3+ & RDNA2 architectures. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U is a mobile processor with a configurable TDP of 15 - 28 W featuring 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.7 GHz and a boost of 4.7 GHz. The processor also includes integrated Radeon 680M graphics with 12 RDNA2 cores running at 2.2 GHz which should offer performance almost twice of that as the Steam Deck. This APU is paired with an unspecified amount of LPDDR5 6400 MHz memory and a 7" 1280×800 IPS frameless display. The console is also set to feature an integrated fingerprint sensor and has been showcased running numerous games such as Metro Exodus, Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, and Elden Ring. The AYANEO 2 is set to launch sometime later this year however an exact date or pricing was not shared.

Aya Neo announced an updated model of it's AMD-based handheld console by the same name at Chinajoy 2021. The Aya Neo 2021 Pro and Aya Neo 2021 Pro Retro Power will both feature 1 TB of storage as standard with a 2 TB model also offered. The Pro models feature an upgraded Ryzen 7 4800U processor with 8 cores and 16 threads up from the 6 core 12 thread Ryzen 5 4500U found in the regular model. This upgrade also increases the Vega graphics compute unit count to 8 and should provide a noticeable performance improvement. The Aya Neo 2021 Pro Retro Power features a NES-inspired color scheme and includes a special docking station for 100 USD more. Aya will also sell a GaN 108 W charger and mechanical keyboard with the same retro design. These new models are priced at almost double the 649 USD price of the 512 GB Steam Deck and are expected to start shipping in September.