Aya Neo Next 2 challenges the PC handheld market with discrete graphics. Aya Neo OS expected later this year.

The Deck might truly have a competitor now with the upcoming Aya Neo 2 handheld. YouTuber Taki Udon described this handheld as “an entirely different beast” and is “the first real improvement” over the many other handhelds that Aya Neo made in the past. For starters, the Aya Neo 2 sports the AMD Ryzen 7 Zen 3 6800U processor, which has eight cores and is capable of clocking up to 4.

Thanks to the ChimeraOS team, a new feature has recently been merged into GameScope: the –force-orientation option. Basically, what this allows users to do is to force the screen orientation via the command line when they’re using GameScope. A common problem that PC handhelds face – albeit for the Deck – is that the screen is in portrait mode rather than in landscape. With this merge, this problem can now be fixed with:

A few weeks ago I had talked about Aya Neo’s new handheld, which will sport AMD’s new Mendocino APU: the Aya Neo Air Plus. As it seems manufacturers are resorting to desparate measures, they go after cheaper processors such as the Mendocino APU to match the price of the Steam Deck. As in the case of the Air Plus, it’s even cheaper at $289, although there’s no mention of how much RAM or storage is supplied.

When it comes to x86-based handhelds, there’s plenty of them. Even before Valve’s announcement of the Steam Deck, companies like GPD, Aya Neo, and Onexplayer were making portable PC gaming a reality. Up until this point, however, none of them could compete as far as price. They generally cost about $1,000, give or take, giving the Steam Deck a huge cost advantage. Gabe Newell has repeatedly mentioned that getting the cost of the Deck to what it currently is was “painful.