Retroid just surprised us with two gaming handhelds, and they might be value kings

There has been a flurry of new Android gaming handheld releases over the past few months, and today, Retroid finally joined the action. The company announced its highly anticipated follow-up to the Retriod Pocket 5, as well as a surprising new handheld that might end up being a better buy.

The surprise handheld here is the Pocket G2, which is the first gaming handheld to ship with Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 chipset. Designed specifically for gaming handhelds, it should have more power and better sustained performance than Retroid’s previous flagship. The company claims it’s “almost 2x faster than the Retroid Pocket 5,” which has the aging Snapdragon 865.

Apart from the chipset, it will feature a 5.5-inch 60Hz FHD OLED display with an all-glass front and a 5,000mAh battery. It only comes in one configuration with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and pricing is set at $199 for the first two weeks. After that, it will jump to $219 retail.

The pre-order price is the same as the current price of the Retroid Pocket 5, which was recently discounted.

There are five color options available, with GC, 16-bit, and Black shipping on October 29. The additional turquoise and Yellow colorways will ship on November 5. The product page is already live, but as of writing, orders are not yet available.

The other handheld announced this morning, the Retroid Pocket 6, is its latest flagship and the most powerful handheld ever released by the company. It will feature a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, available in 8+128GB and 12+256GB configurations. That extra power should come in handy for Windows emulation, although the limited internal storage means you won’t be able to install many large games. GameHub and other PC emulators typically don’t allow you to install or run games from an SD card.

It will feature a 5.5-inch FHD 120Hz AMOLED display, which is a minor upgrade from the 60Hz panel on the Pocket 5. The new device keeps the same D-pad-centric symmetrical layout, although it has a new line of buttons beneath the screen. These have been confirmed to be the back, home, M1, and M2 buttons.

While there’s no word yet on when the Pocket 6 will be released, the company did announce pricing. Both configurations will have a $20 discount during the pre-order period, costing $209 and $259, respectively. Retail pricing is set at $229 and $279. There are six color options available, as seen in the image above.

The Retroid Pocket G2 and Pocket 6 launch into a very competitive market, with the KONKR Pocket FIT and AYN Odin 3 offering very compelling deals. The Pocket FIT, which comes with a Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, is still available for $239, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite model costing just $30 more. The Odin 3, which is still in pre-order, also sports a Snapdragon 8 Elite and starts at $329.