At GDC 2025, Qualcomm announced its newest lineup of processors that will soon make their way into Android gaming handhelds. Headlining the trio is the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, coming more than a year after its predecessor was released. It promises to provide a 30% CPU boost and an almost 30% jump to the GPU, which is nice on paper and probably in practice.
Of course, these weren't the only announcements, as we also saw AYANEO, OneXSugar, and Retroid announce new gaming handhelds. AYANEO's introduction of the Pocket S2 comes as little surprise, seeing the original Pocket S was the first device to ship with the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2.
Until now, this operated as the most powerful chip for Android gaming handhelds, custom driver support notwithstanding. So naturally, I'm pretty darn excited to get my hands on the Pocket S2 and see whether the G3 Gen 3 performs as well as Qualcomm claims.
However, at the same time, I've had this nagging question in the back of my mind: have we reached the point of diminishing returns? It's kind of the same feeling that I have when it comes to smartphones, as I feel that slab phones have reached their peak, which drives my commitment to foldables.
Thankfully, I don't feel the same when it comes to the design of gaming handhelds, as there's a lot more flexibility. But I don't actually know if we need faster and more powerful processors. Don't get me wrong, if RPCS3 for Android continues its breakneck pace in development and Winlator continues to improve; then this take will probably look pretty dumb.
Even with Nintendo doing everything it can to put a stop to Switch emulation, the fact that you can use Android to play PS3, Switch, and PC games is mind-blowing. But in order to take advantage of that, you'll need to pony up a pretty penny.
When the AYANEO Pocket S Indiegogo campaign started, you were looking at a starting price of $399 for the 1080p base model. Currently, you can't actually buy the base model Pocket S, but before it went out of stock, you'd be looking at $559. You might know where I'm going with this, but that's more expensive than the 512GB Steam Deck OLED, which is quite a bit more capable than the Pocket S.
At the same time, there's AYN with its Odin 2 lineup of Android gaming handhelds, all of which are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The trio of Odin 2 models offers a variety of RAM configurations, but the base model can currently be had for $299.
Right now, the company's latest handheld, the Odin 2 Portal with OLED, starts at $329. Even if you opt for the Odin 2 Portal (Max), with its 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, its $499 price tag is still less than the entry-level Pocket S.
This is what worries me a bit about the status of high-end Android emulation. AYANEO didn't share pricing specifics for the Pocket S2, but considering that it's arriving with a brand-new Qualcomm chip, I suspect it'll be pretty darn expensive. And while a few design tweaks have been made, there's really not much of a compelling reason to get one unless you're a specs snob like me.
I don't know whether the Pocket S2 will tip the scales in one direction or the other. I think that the onus is being put on what the numbers look like with the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 and the Pocket Classic.
The former is actually using the Snapdragon 865 from 2019, while the Classic is the first device to ship with the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2. Those are much more affordable, as Retroid is offering a bundle that includes both handhelds for under $330. Sure, they don't have the juice to play through your PS3 library, but you're still getting an incredible experience regardless.
I'll be interested to see just how everything plays out and whether this new wave of Android handhelds brings more people into the hobby. It's wild enough to see niche companies partner with Qualcomm, but this might just be the start of something much bigger.
