- Ayaneo announced the Next 2 handheld’s specifications and price
- The new gaming handheld will cost up to $4,299 and its early bird price is $3,499
- The Next 2 will be available through Ayaneo’s Indiegogo campaign in February
Gaming PC hardware is taking a huge hit thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis with rising prices and even the delay of the long-awaited Steam Machine. Unfortunately, it looks like things are only just getting started.
Handheld brand Ayaneo has revealed a ton of new information about its upcoming Next 2 handheld gaming PC, including the fact that it will cost $4,299 / around £3,160 / AU$6,130 for a 128GB RAM and 2TB storage model. That’s more than an RTX 5090!
Its early bird price is set at $3,499 / around £2,570 / AU$4,990, for consumers looking to save a little by backing the Indiegogo campaign.
Ayaneo Next 2 is a powerful handheld gaming PC, equipped with AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, a 116WH battery and a 9-inch OLED screen. These specifications are almost equivalent to those of a budget gaming laptop, as the Max+ 395’s performance is equivalent to an RTX 4060.
While the Ayaneo Next 2 was always expected to be an expensive handheld — as all Ryzen AI Max+ 395-powered handhelds are — the $4,299 retail price tag could be a step too far, even for consumers willing to pay high prices for handhelds, and that’s largely due to the RAM crunch.
It’s not just the 128GB model either, as the base model matches the RTX 5090’s $1,999 MSRP, equipped with the less powerful Ryzen AI Max 385 processor and 32GB of RAM.
An AI Max+ 395 model has 64GB of RAM, which isn’t necessary for handheld gaming (and certainly not 128GB), but consumers will have to pay $2,699 to get their hands on it.
If RAM prices continue to skyrocket, there’s a good chance that Ayaneo’s listed retail prices won’t last when it officially launches as well.
Analysis: 128GB RAM is not necessary for handhelds
The RAM crisis isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and Ayaneo hasn’t made it any easier by using high RAM configurations. Most mainstream handhelds run perfectly with 32GB of RAM (some even with 16GB), so the push for 64GB and 128GB seems like complete overkill.
The AI Max+ 395 APU, 9-inch OLED screen and 116WH battery are already enough to make the Next 2 a niche device with a high price, but the addition of 128GB of RAM makes it unattainable even for consumers willing to spend big on portable gaming.
Nvidia’s RTX 5090 is barely available at any retailer, and the third-party options are all well over the $1,999 / £1,799 / AU$4,039 MSRP, with some costing nearly $5,000 at Best Buy. The same amount can get a consumer a brand new desktop gaming PC, which is a better option compared to both the Next 2 handheld and the RTX 5090 GPU.
It wouldn’t surprise me if new handhelds in 2026 end up sporting 8GB RAM configurations, because the PC hardware market looks like it’s only going to get worse at this rate.
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