Orange Pi handhelds leak: Powered by AMD’s 7840U
Neon Rabbit/Orange PiThe single-board computer manufacturer, Orange Pi, appears to be moving into a new world, as a trio of handhelds has leaked from Chinese social media.
Open-source SBC manufacturer, Orange Pi, has had its next line of hardware leaked onto the Chinese social media site, BiliBili. The leak, which comes from user Neon Rabbit, details three new gaming handhelds that will be hitting the market at some point in the next few months.
The Orange Pi consoles themselves aren’t particularly breaking new ground in terms of looks. Designed to be similar to the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, it provides two back paddle buttons and a typical array of embedded console-like controls on the front.
Neon Rabbit/Orange PiPowered by both AMD’s chips, the 7840U, and 6800U, as well as the Rockchip RK3588S. Neon Rabbit shared some slides of the cheapest, least powerful model, including a price and estimated release date.
Orange Pi Rockchip RK3588S
Neon Rabbit/Orange PiFor the Rockchip version, the price is expected to land at around $215 dollars and launch alongside the other two in October. However, none of this has been confirmed by Orange Pi, who hasn’t responded to the leak in any capacity.
Orange Pi’s decision to use the Rockchip RK3588S is an intriguing one, as for a single-board computer, it provides plenty of power for emulation and retro gaming. YouTuber ETA Prime managed to get the often hard-to-run PS2 end of the gaming spectrum to play a relatively smooth section of God of War 1.
Orange Pi handhelds to be powered by 7840U and 6800U
Neon Rabbit/Orange PiThe other two systems are the more interesting propositions. Powered by two different generations of AMD APUs, the 7840U and 6800U. There’s no word on pricing yet, with only speculation from certain outlets.
However, looking at certain competitors, like Ayaneo, who launched the Ayaneo 2 with a 6800U inside. The price was substantially more expensive, starting at $949, which contradicts speculation that the Orange Pi devices could come in at sub-$500.
AMD’s new chips are tiny powerhouses
A few hardware manufacturers have leaped at the chance to begin using the new AMD 7840U in laptops, with Ayaneo and AOKZOE using it to power their upcoming handhelds, the Ayaneo 2S and A1 Pro – respectively.
Specs and vague company-supplied benchmarks were supplied the other day along with the full reveal of the 7840U. AMD’s current word is that it can best Apple’s M2 in performance. AOKZOE has even provided a chart, indicating that certain games, like Forza Horizon 5, will run at 60FPS while on high settings.
AMD currently has a stranglehold over the explosion of handheld gaming PCs, powering almost all of the popular models. This includes things like the Steam Deck, with a custom RDNA 2 chip called Van Gogh, as well as the upcoming Asus ROG Ally, with the newly unveiled Z1 and Z1 Extreme chips.
