Ayaneo teases us with concept images of its upcoming 'Code: REVO,' a codename that'symbolizes the innovative strength which leads gamers to walk in a new dimension of Ayaneo portables'

The handheld gaming PC market appears to be ignoring Valve's announcement that it won't release a new Steam Deck each year. There were already three upcoming Lenovo Legion Go portables, and Ayaneo teased the Ayaneo 3.

Ayeneo released some tantalisingly veiled images of the Ayaneo 3 which it has now named "Code: Revo". This codename, according to Ayeneo, "stands as the Revolution, the internal development code for Ayaneo 3". It symbolizes the innovative strength which leads gamers into a new dimension of Ayaneo portables.

Ayaneo knows how to brag. The previous announcement had already stated that the upcoming handheld was a "revolution", and "foreshadowed the future possibilities of portable devices." Other words, there's a lot of "we are about to do something awesome!" There is little information about what this cool thing will be.

Ayaneo releases handhelds in a similar way to Apple, so the "revolution" part could be a way to differentiate it from their own crowded lineup. It's time to do it, too, since there are two new processor generations, Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix Point, which herald the AI era.

The main debate about all upcoming portables will be over which of these they choose. Lenovo may choose AMD for its new Legion Go handhelds. One of these is a Strix Point variant of a Z2 APU that could be, the Z2 Extreme. The MSI Claw 8 will have a Lunar Lake processor, so the field is still open.

Ayaneo has released some "concept" pictures of the Ayaneo 3 which is a curvy device that looks very similar to the Ayaneo 2 with its full frontal glass panel. There's not much here that tells us how the new Ayaneo hand-held is going to be revolutionary.

Ayaneo 2, however, might indicate that the third generation will be a niche product. The second-gen was launched above $1,000 and the handheld market seems to be centered around the $400-800 range. Amazon currently has a Legion Go for $499 and a ROG Ally is just $6 more.

The "Code: REVO", no matter how sleek and stylish the Ayaneo's concept design may look, will have to be revolutionary for me to part with more than $1,000. There's a chance it could compete with other mainstream portable gaming PCs and break into the sub $1000 market.

Ayaneo's handhelds are not strangers to the market for sub-$1,000 devices. The new Ayaneo Flip DS is competitively priced, at $749, and genuinely innovative, at the very least in its mad scientist combination of Windows handheld design and Nintendo DS.

It's possible that the Ayaneo 3 will be competitive on the mainstream market. It's possible, but I doubt it, as it continues the Ayaneo 2 lineage. Is that a bad thing, though? It's true that expensive, high-end products are more niche. But this doesn't mean they should be avoided. We'll have to wait for now, as all we have are pictures and marketing spin.