The AYN Odin 3 is officially the first Snapdragon 8 Elite gaming handheld

Just a few hours ago, AYN revealed that its upcoming flagship handheld, the Odin 3, will have an exclusive 6-inch 120Hz AMOLED panel. Now the company has revealed the chipset, and it might be the start of a revolution in the handheld gaming space.

The AYN Odin 3 is the first Android gaming handheld to confirm that it will feature a Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. Last week a competing device called the KONKR Pocket FIT Elite implied that it would have a Snapdragon 8 Elite, but the specs were never confirmed by the company.

Upgrading from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 of its predecessor, the Odin 3 is set to become one of the most powerful handhelds on the market. The chipset represents a significant improvement in performance and efficiency, although there are a few downsides to the new architecture.

Emulator developers and community drivers have been focused on older chipsets, so support for the 8 Elite is very limited. Some of that is made up for by the raw power of the Oryon CPU cores, but drivers are just as important for demanding Switch, PS3, and Windows emulators. This is likely the reason we’ve seen AYANEO prioritize the new G3 Gen 3 chipset, which is based on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The good news is that this should encourage the Android emulation community to adapt, so we should see driver compatibility improve over time. That’s great news for anyone with a gaming phone, but it could take months before that becomes a reality.

The other concern with this chipset is heat generation. Android Authority has done extensive testing on smartphones with this chipset, and all of them run significantly hotter than older models. The large heat sink seen in the Odin 3 teaser video may help mitigate this, but further testing is required.

As part of this announcement, AYN also confirmed that the Odin 3 will have an 8,000mAh battery, matching the Odin 2. It’s slated to be roughly 30g lighter, with a slightly smaller physical size. Most of that reduction in size appears to be due to smaller bezels around the screen.

Regardless, this is an exciting development in Android gaming handhelds. AYN is now set to release two new devices this year, one with two screens powered by the Snapdragon 865/8 Gen 2 and a more traditional handheld with a Snapdragon 8 Elite. The former starts at $249, with pricing on the latter likely coming later this week.