Planning to buy an AYN Thor? You don't have long to lock in a low price

Another day, another Android handheld feeling the squeeze from rising RAM prices. This time, AYN has confirmed that its dual-screen Thor will get more expensive when the next batch of pre-orders opens later this month. The good news is there’s still a brief window to lock in the current pricing, if you’re quick.

According to an update shared on AYN’s Discord (via NotebookCheck), the company will raise prices when Batch 3 pre-orders open on January 20. AYN directly attributes the increase to higher memory costs. As a result, the Base model will go up by $10, while the Pro and Max variants will each see a $20 bump.

It’s not a big hike, and AYN says this will be the end of early-bird pricing. This is largely reflected in the AYN’s storefront, which indicates that current pricing reflects early-bird discounts that are about to expire. However, while the Base and Max models appear to be reverting to their standard pricing of $309 and $459, respectively, the Pro model is becoming more expensive. The $20 increase will take it up to $369, rather than the $359 standard price currently displayed.

Alongside the pricing update, AYN has also begun rolling out a new software update for the Thor. The latest OTA primarily focuses on enhancing thermals and battery performance, with changes designed to mitigate overheating under heavy loads and introduce safeguards to protect long-term battery health. A handful of other fixes and refinements are also included.

Batch 2 shipments are currently scheduled to start on January 15, with Batch 3 pre-orders opening just five days later. That doesn’t give you long to act if you want to avoid paying more for the same hardware.

This is becoming something of a depressing trend in the industry. AYN delayed shipments of the Odin 3 Ultra last month, explicitly blaming soaring RAM prices and a temporary memory shortage. Other Android handheld makers have been facing similar pressure points. Retroid recently ended early-bird pricing for the Pocket 6 for the same reason. At the same time, delays affecting devices like AYANEO’s KONKR Pocket FIT Elite point to supply-chain strain, even if RAM wasn’t explicitly cited in that case.