TL;DR
- The Xperia Play-like AYANEO Pocket PLAY sliding phone will feature a 6.8-inch 165Hz OLED panel.
- The front-facing camera is located in the bezel for a seamless gaming experience.
- Full specs and pricing have not been announced, but expect an early 2026 launch window.
For many gamers, the AYANEO Pocket PLAY is one of the most exciting upcoming releases, with a sliding control mechanism that’s clearly inspired by the Xperia Play. Now, the company has revealed the specs for the screen, and it’s a massive upgrade over its spiritual predecessor.
The Pocket PLAY will feature a 6.8-inch 2400 x 1080 OLED panel with an “esports-grade” refresh rate of 165Hz. That’s more than 50% larger than the 2011 Xperia Play’s LCD panel, with nearly three times the resolution.
AYANEO’s first smartphone revives the Xperia Play design with a modern aesthetic.
Keeping things as gaming-friendly as possible, the phone moves the front-facing camera back to the bezel, deliberately foregoing more modern punch-hole or under-screen designs. The phone also features two lenses on the back, with a fully flat finish. That said, the company writes that “photography is not Pocket PLAY’s primary focus” but that “its camera system meets solid baseline standards.”
AYANEO has yet to reveal the full specs and pricing of the Pocket PLAY, but today’s announcement did reveal that it will have active cooling. This is critical for sustained performance in demanding titles, especially for newer chipsets in the Snapdragon 8 Elite lineup.
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But the main feature here is clearly the sliding controller design. Other devices, like the RG Slide gaming handheld and the MCON controller, also adopt the Xperia Play’s sliding design, but this is the first full smartphone to use a sliding controller in nearly 15 years.
Like the Xperia Play, the Pocket PLAY will have two touchpad controllers, as well as a D-pad, face buttons, and physical shoulder buttons. The “dual intelligent touchpads” also feature touch-down inputs for L3 and R3 support.
The AYANEO Pocket PLAY is set to launch soon on Kickstarter, and you can pre-register now to receive a notification when the campaign begins. This is the first time AYANEO is using Kickstarter instead of Indiegogo, but the gaming handheld company is notorious for shipping products later than initially promised, so be patient if you decide to pre-order.
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