The most powerful Android handheld

When it comes to truly premium Android gaming handhelds, AYANEO practically owns the market. Its devices are admitedly niche compared to the likes of Retroid and ANBERNIC, but they offer premium devices with performance that blows away the competition.

So when it was announced that the Pocket S2 would be one of the first devies to get the Qualcomm’s new handheld-focused G series chips, I was immediately intrigued. Could this be the first of a new generation of ultra powerful Android gaming handhelds?

After a week of testing, I’m confident that the answer is yes. Does that mean you should actually buy it? That’s still up for debate.

Before I get to the chipset, let’s talk about the design of the AYANEO Pocket S2. At first glance, the all glass front and flat form-factor make it look an awful lot like a phone, which doesn’t sound like good news for ergonomics.

But I’m happy to say that it actually feels great to hold. The aluminum frame is perfectly curved and smooth, with the plastic back providing a little extra grip for your fingers. It uses the same flat design philosophy as the Nintendo Switch, but with a more premium build.

The other thing that makes it comfortable to hold are the stacked triggers. Like the Nintendo Switch, they flare out from the back, and provide a nice little ledge to rest your fingers on. They’re much more pronounced than the triggers on my OG Switch, and the triggers themselves have a nice, grippy texture.

Unlike the Switch, the rest of the controls are also great. The buttons offer a satisfying amount of resistance, although I did find them a bit on the small side. The sticks are also on the smaller side and I’d highly recommend picking up bigger stick caps or replacing the sticks altogether if you’re going to play FPS games. They pop right off, so it’s a quick fix.

Size aside, they are high-end TMR electromagnetic sticks. This technology is essentially the successor to Hall effect sticks, providing many of the same benefits but with better precision, resolution, and battery efficiency. I’m sure these will never drift as badly as my Switch sticks do, even after replacing them once.

The D-pad, on the other hand, is perfect. It’s an absolute joy to use, and if you swing for the Pocket S2 Pro, it comes with a second, shield-style alternative. There’s a small tool to pluck out the D-pad to install the other one, and it’s just as easy as swapping the keys on a mechanical keyboard. It’s completely unnecessary and no one else does it, but it does spark joy.

Speaking of sparking joy, the Pocket S2 marks the return of a fan favorite feature: a headphone jack. I’m glad AYANEO decided to listen to the fans on this one, because it doesn’t make much sense to omit them on gaming handhelds. On phones you can argue it helps with water resistance, but I’m not taking the Pocket S2 anywhere close to the pool, no matter how hot it gets this summer.

My only complaint, other than the smaller sticks, is the screen. It’s a gorgeous, 6.3-inch 1440p IPS display with great colors and brightness, but at this price, it feels like it should be more. Don’t get me wrong, I love gaming on this screen, but OLED should be the standard here. Or at the very least, a 120hz refresh-rate to enable black frame insertion on retro titles. That’s available on cheaper devices like the Odin 2 Portal or even the ANBERNIC RG 477M.

Still, the whole package looks and feels premium. It’s also relatively light for the size, weighing in at 440g. That’s very similar to the Odin 2 Portal (430g) and significantly less than something like the Steam Deck OLED, which weighs a whopping 640g.

Obviously the Steam Deck is a different class of device, but there’s a reason I’m comparing them, and it’s because the Pocket S2 packs way more power than any other Android handheld released until now.

I ran the Pocket S2 through our standard suite of benchmarks, and it confirmed what I already knew: this thing is a beast. Let’s compare the scores to other popular handhelds, including the AYANEO Pocket ACE (Snapdragon G3 Gen 2), AYN Odin 2 Portal (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), ONEXSUGAR SUGAR 1 (also the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3), and the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 (Snapdragon 865).

In terms of multi-core CPU performance, we’re looking at a more than 25% increase over the previous leader, the AYN Odin 2 Portal. It even outperforms the SUGAR 1, which has the same chipset. That device has two screens and a less-than-ideal cooling setup, but it could also be chalked up to AYANEO’s years of experience with Android handhelds.

Moving on to GPU performance, we see even more drastic results. The Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 is essentially a gaming-oriented Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so it makes sense that it outperforms the competition. Still, I wasn’t expecting the delta to be so large. It scored 20% higher than the Pocket ACE, and more than 40% higher than the Odin 2 Portal. Needless to say, the Retroid Pocket Flip 2’s older chipset is completely outclassed here.

It isn’t easy to see in the graphs, but the G3 Gen 3 on the Pocket S2 also made gains in terms of sustained performance. These tests rate devices for stability, essentially comparing the best and worst results after 20 runs, and the G3 Gen 3 scored roughly 91%. That’s up from 85% on its predecessor, but still less than the 99% on mainline chips.

Temperatures were also well within control, peaking at just 42 degrees celcius. Compared to 46 degrees on the Pocket ACE, that’s remarkably cool. Those temperatures are also focused in the center of the device, so I never felt any heat on my hands while holding it.

In other words, it’s the new most powerful Android gaming handheld on the market by a heathly margin when looking at the raw data. But how does it perform in Android games and emulators? Spoiler: also great.

This thing ran literally everything I could throw at it. Obviously retro games play like a dream, even with very heavy shaders. Revisiting some of my favorite retro titles with the CRT-Royale shader is an incredible experience, even with the black bars on the sides. PS2 with widescreen hacks also ran at 3X resolution without breaking a sweat.

When it comes to more modern stuff, it still gets the job done. I was actually surprised how well Nintendo Switch emulation worked on this device. Nearly every game was playable, including some titles that don’t work on the previous generation of powerful handhelds. It’s still not perfect and games still play better on original hardware, but this is the first time that I wouldn’t mind playing through an entire Switch game on non-Switch hardware.

For these kinds of emulators, it all really comes down to drivers. When the Snapdragon G3 Gen 2 debuted on the Pocket EVO and DMG, it was a major issue, even with Android games. Now, it’s a total non-issue. You can spoof other devices in settings, but I doubt you’ll ever need to.

AYANEO announced that it’s working closely with Qualcomm on drivers starting with this release, and it really shows here. The company also sent test devices (including the Pocket S2) to the developers behind the Nintendo Switch emulator Eden, which might explain why it works so well right out of the box.

I’ll also note that this chipset is great for game streaming, with WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 supported. However, the smaller sticks on the Pocket S2 made it a little uncomfortable to play modern PC games, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for that. There are cheaper devices with larger sticks that perform every bit as well.

Another big selling point for the Pocket S2 is battery life. The standard model comes with a massive 8,000mAh battery, while the Pro model ups that to 10,000mAh. That was enough for well over five hours of intense gaming, or more than a dozen in lighter retro titles.

Charging is also speedy, jumping from 20% to 90% in about 75 minutes. The 60W max charging speeds I tested are exclusive to the Pro model, however, with the standard maxing out at 40W. Even so, you won’t need to spend much time tethered to a charger with the Pocket S2.

While I was very impressed throughout my testing period with this device, the events of the past week have made it considerably harder to recommend. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic device and you will probably love it if you decide to buy it, but the premium price tag is tough to stomach, especially when AYANEO itself is releasing compelling alternatives.

The standard version of the AYANEO Pocket S2 comes with 8-12GB of RAM and 128-256GB of internal storage. The Pro model bumps that up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB-1TB of storage, plus a larger battery and a swappable D-pad. Personally, I think the lowest tier of the Pro model is the best value, since you’ll be able to play everything at the highest quality. That said, it will run you $559 during the crowdfunding campaign, and $619 retail. That’s well into Windows handheld territory in terms of pricing.

The problem is that unless you absolutely need the maximum amount of power, there are plenty of devices that cost a lot less or have more interesting designs. Just this week AYANEO announced the dual-screened Pocket DS, which has the previous G3 Gen 2 but pairs it with a massive 7-inch 165Hz OLED panel and a 5-inch LCD panel on the bottom. That makes it an extremely unique handheld, and although full pricing hasn’t been revealed, we already know it’s going to be cheaper than the Pocket 2S.

It also announced a sub-brand called KONKR, and its first device, the Pocket FIT, looks like a solid alternative to the Pocket S2. It has a 6-inch 144Hz LCD display, and it’s powered by the the same G3 Gen 3 as the Pocket S2. That means you can get the same incredible performance for what will surely over a hundred dollars less, although there will be other tradeoffs in build quality.

Neither of those products have launched yet, so you won’t be able to get your hands on them until fall or winter. We also don’t have all of the details yet, so there may be downsides that make the Pocket S2 look more attractive in hindsight.

Outside of AYANEO’s offerings, you’ve got reliable devices like the AYN Odin 2 Portal ($329 at Manufacturer site). You’re trading the extra power of the newer chipset for a 120Hz AMOLED display, albeit at 1080p instead of 1440p. That device has been available for more than six months now, so you can find it for $200 less than the Pocket S2.

That said, if you do want power, the AYANEO Pocket S2 is the most powerful Android gaming handheld you can get right now. This device is at the absolute bleeding edge of performance, and if you can’t wait for other devices to catch up, your best bet is to buy one before the crowdfunding campaign ends in mid-August.