Gaming Handhelds Are Getting Actually Funky—and We’re Right here for It

Are you bored with all the identical outdated Recreation Boy lookalikes? One of the vital prolific handheld makers round, Anbernic, is devising a tool that’s one way or the other much more pocket-friendly than an everyday vertical handheld with a display that spins up and out to overview the common system controls.

April showers appear to be dwelling as much as their title, since we’ve seen a monsoon of leaks for Anbernic’s supposed “RG Rotate.” Final month, a Reddit user shared supposed early prototypes of the hand held with a sq. display that spun out and up, revealing the common D-pad and A, B, X, and Y buttons beneath. It’s instantly harking back to early 2000s-era telephones just like the Sidekick and the Motorola Flipout. RetroDodo shared extra photographs and movies of the system taken from Chinese language social media displaying its title and flipping motion.

Excessive-resolution photos of Anbernic’s newest handheld console have been launched. pic.twitter.com/nDRuLxoXZv

— Mechdiy (@mechdiy) April 3, 2026

We’ve seen different handhelds from Ayaneo and others with Sidekick-like slide-up screens to disclose a keyboard. Anbernic’s design appears that a lot smaller, excellent for individuals who want one thing extra compact than even an everyday Recreation Boy. We should always count on this handheld to hit the scene within the subsequent few months.

Extra handhelds which might be even weirder than that

Now, we come to the GAMENT E5 Modx. Simply take into consideration a squat, vertical handheld that may flip right into a MagSafe telephone controller whenever you desire a greater display. The show detaches from the principle physique, revealing a slot the place you possibly can connect the accompanying plate full with a MagSafe attachment level on your telephone. Whereas the system appears at first like a typical Recreation Boy form, it’s truly far wider than that, that includes a 5-inch contact show at a 1,024 x 768 decision. The hand-held is operating on a MediaTek MTK6771 Helio P60, a smartphone chip used again in 2018, and simply 3GB of RAM. Which means it could be highly effective sufficient for operating video games up by means of—doubtlessly—the PlayStation 1 period.

This new handheld is definitely a modified model of the corporate’s earlier E5 Extremely from 2024. Nonetheless, that extensive physique means your telephone shouldn’t seem prefer it’s spilling over both aspect of the system an excessive amount of. The E5 Modx’s MagSafe element jogs my memory first of the first-gen MCON mobile controller. That system depends on a Bluetooth connection on your telephone. It makes use of a spring-loaded ejection mechanism for that MagSafe plate, which helps preserve the controller comparatively pocketable.

Gaming handhelds are innovating quicker than many different areas in tech. In March, Lenovo trotted out a Legion Go Fold concept with removable controllers and a display that might orient vertically or horizontally. Final yr, I examined an enormous handheld PC referred to as the Abyxlute 3D One with a stereoscopic 3D show.

Handheld makers might must hedge their bets on the bizarre and wacky. For one, there are method, method too many retro handhelds in the marketplace, not to mention handheld gaming PCs, for many customers to maintain observe of. Greater than that, the continued reminiscence disaster is straining the very concept of “low cost” handhelds. Final week, Lenovo pushed the worth of its top-end Legion Go 2 as much as $2,000. Different handheld makers like Retroid have equally raised costs on their Pocket Traditional to $150 and declared the Retroic Pocket G2 was “quickly” kaput. If these handhelds are to remain related, they could must reinvent how and the place they can be utilized.