What you need to know
- After being teased for months, the AYANEO Pocket PLAY was officially shown off in a teaser video.
- This is AYANEO’s first attempt at releasing a smartphone, coming after years of focusing on Android and Windows gaming handhelds.
- The phone features a sliding design reminiscent of the Sony Xperia Play, with the controls being accessed after sliding the screen upwards.
- Although a Kickstarter campaign landing page is live, there are no details about specs, price, or availability.
In early August, AYANEO, maker of some of the best Android gaming handhelds, began teasing the release of its first smartphone. Late last night, more details were revealed, as the AYANEO Pocket PLAY was shown off the teaser video seen below.
This aims to be the first phone with a built-in gamepad in at least a decade, as Sony held the patent which officially expired in early 2025. Since then, we’ve only seen one company release anything remotely resembling the Xperia Play, with the Anbernic RG Slide arriving in June 2025.
The teaser trailer does a pretty good job at what it’s supposed to do, showing off the phone from every angle, but stopping short of providing too many details. As such, AYANEO has yet to share anything in regards to specs, pricing, or availability.
That being said, there aren’t any secrets about the overall design, as the Pocket PLAY seems to be made from a combination of aluminum and glass. One can only hope there’s a bit of plastic thrown in there somewhere, otherwise, this is going to be one hefty smartphone.
The screen slides upwards, locking into a flat position, which might be a disappointment to those who might’ve preferred an angled approach. Nevertheless, after sliding the screen out of the way, we’re greeted with a full suite of gamepad controls.
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These go beyond the standard ABXY+D-pad combination, as there are two “Smart Dual-Mode Touchpads.” All this means is that each touchpad can work as either a virtual joystick or a trackpad. This is likely similar to what we’ve seen in the AYANEO Pocket DMG, which features one physical joystick, and then a touchpad area that doubles as the second joystick.
From there, the Pocket PLAY offers an array of other buttons, such as the standard Start+Select combination, along with a dedicated AYANEO button. However, there are a few buttons on the front, notably the red one, that we aren’t exactly sure what it does.
Moving past the gaming aspect, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t find the Pocket PLAY being compared to the Galaxy S26 Ultra or iPhone 17 Pro once released. Well, at least when it comes to cameras. On the back of the phone, you can see three cutouts, with the top two housing the sensors and the bottom one being reserved for the flash.
Even with AYANEO aiming to capture the nostalgia of a modern Sony Xperia Play, the company has quite a few hurdles to overcome. For one, we don’t know how much this will actually cost just yet, nor do we know whether AYANEO will be aiming for global availability. If so, that means it’ll need to be certified by the FCC to be sold in the U.S., which is enough of a task on its own, especially for a start-up.
Then there’s the matter of when the Pocket PLAY will actually be released. As evidenced by recent launches, such as the Pocket DS and KONKR Pocket FIT, AYANEO seems to be struggling to keep up with production. Not to mention that it keeps revealing new devices on what feels like a monthly cadence.
That being said, whenever the AYANEO Pocket PLAY is officially released, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be trying to pick one up. Speaking of which, there’s already a Kickstarter campaign landing page, which currently has more than 1,000 “followers.” Now we just have to play the waiting game.
A true gaming phone
After the Xperia Play, I never thought we’d see another Android gaming phone with a sliding mechanism being released. Yet, that’s exactly what AYANEO aims to do with the Pocket PLAY, which is rather ambitious for what will be the company’s first smartphone.
