AYANEO is skipping the usual upgrades and going straight for raw power with the NEXT 2. This handheld runs on AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395, better known as Strix Halo. It’s the fastest APU you can get in a handheld. And it’s not cheap.
Founder Arthur Zhang showed the prototype in a livestream. It’s massive. The board is packed with a dual-fan cooling system, LPDDR5X RAM, M.2 SSD slots, and plenty of ports. No handheld has looked this much like a laptop.
Most companies avoid Strix Halo, it’s too hot, too expensive. AYANEO doesn’t care. They want performance.
NEXT 2 is built like a tank and runs like one
The board is huge. The fans are big. And the cooling takes up serious space. This isn’t for casual players. It’s for people who want desktop performance in their hands.
The screen will likely be around 10 inches. That’s bigger than a Steam Deck or ROG Ally. Portability is clearly not the focus here.
The NEXT 2 came after AYANEO worked on the AI395 Mini PC. That helped solve some thermal issues. Now, they’ve taken those lessons and built a handheld that can handle the heat.
The design isn’t final. But even now, it’s clear: this is a beast.
Launch is planned for later this year. No price yet, but don’t expect it to be cheap.
For more updates like this, check out the tech-news section!
