Ayaneo Next Lite revealed & it uses one of the Steam Deck’s best features

Ayaneo has unveiled the Next Lite, a budget-oriented handheld that comes pre-installed with SteamOS, in a first for the company.

Ayaneo is no stranger to creating gorgeous handheld devices. We’ve followed their developments for over a year at this point. But, their latest handheld is unique. As detailed on their website, the Ayaneo Next Lite uses an older chassis, presumably taken from the Ayaneo Next. It also bakes in signature features like hall-sensing analog sticks, and also packs it with one big feature we’ve never seen from Ayaneo before.

The big difference between this handheld, and every other one that Ayaneo has released before is the inclusion of SteamOS. This means that you won’t have to mess around in Windows to get things running, or have to configure everything with Windows taking up a huge amount of bloat. Every handheld outside of the Steam Deck, like the ROG Ally, Legion Go, and MSI Claw all use Windows, which can make the experience crippling for non-technically minded users.

The solution means that the handheld could be cheaper, due to no direct fees to contend with from the OS manufacturer by making the switch to Linux. By reusing an older chassis, Ayaneo also saves on creating new tooling for the handheld, too.

Note: There is currently no confirmation that Valve is involved with supplying the SteamOS image to Ayaneo.

Is this the budget handheld you’ve been waiting for?

Ayaneo

The Ayaneo Next Lite was revealed on the company’s official website, where they state that the handheld will be “lowering the entry-barrier” for users, as well as promising to offer “outstanding cost-effectiveness”. However, the exact pricing for the new handheld has not been announced.

The company has confirmed that the Next Lite will ship with 7-inch, 800p screens, as well as a 47Wh battery.

The handheld has been pictured in White, Black and Turquoise colorways. The company has not yet announced the APU that will be powering the Next Lite, though we suspect it may be an older AMD Ryzen chip, such as the 6800U. We could also see multiple configurations at launch. There’s no currently announced pricing, either. We’ll just have to wait until subscriptions open on January 11 at 9:30PM EST.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date, as Ayaneo creates some of the best gaming handhelds out there, and if they release a device that uses SteamOS, as well as coming in at a budget price, it could give the mighty Steam Deck a run for its money.