AYANEO Unveils the Pocket S Mini with a 4:3 Display Designed for Retro Gaming

AYANEO has just announced the Pocket S Mini, a smaller, more pocketable follow-up to the Pocket S that keeps the same premium design language while reducing the overall footprint.

The company is positioning the handheld as an “endgame” device for retro players, largely thanks to its 4.2-inch 4:3 ultra-high-definition LCD display. The aspect ratio is a natural fit for classic consoles, allowing retro titles to fill the screen without scaling compromises.

Design-wise, the Pocket S Mini sticks close to its larger sibling, with an all-glass front and a sleek metal frame. The key difference here, beyond the smaller form factor, is the move to symmetrical controls. Speaking of controls, the handheld features backlit hall-effect analog sticks, hall-effect triggers, and “crystal-textured” ABXY buttons, plus a 6-axis gyroscope and dual X-axis linear motors for vibration.

Under the hood, this Android 14-powered handheld packs a decent 6,000 mAh battery and runs on a Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 chip, which can handle not only emulation and cloud gaming but also modern Android games and apps.

The Pocket S Mini comes in three colors: Obsidian Black, Ice Soul White and Retro Power. Pre-orders are now open on AYANEO’s website, with early bird prices starting at $319 for the base model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If you’re eyeing the Retro Power colorway though, you’ll have to pay $479 for the top tier option, with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage.