2 min readAyaneo is taking its fight against the Steam Deck to a whole new operating system, with the newly announced Ayaneo Next Lite opting for SteamOS over Windows 11.
Previous Ayaneo devices have run on Windows, so it’s a pretty significant break from what the company has done in the past. It’s also a detail that sets this next effort apart from even newcomers to the niche like the MSI Claw.
As the handheld gaming PC has expanded in recent years, it’s become increasingly clear just how much value the end-to-end experience that Valve is able to offer with the Steam Deck adds to the overall user experience. While Windows 11 adds a lot of versatility to this type of device, it also comes with a few of its own complications. The situation is enough of an issue for Microsoft to get involved, so maybe it's actually more surprising that it's taken this long for something to try this approach instead.
While Ayaneo itself is just teasing the Next Lite for now and hasn’t announced the key specs for the device, it has confirmed a few details. Specifically, the unit will feature a 7-inch 800p display, Hall joysticks, ergonomic handles and a 47Whr battery.
Given that the performance of past Ayaneo hardware has always been generally good and the software has been something of an Achilles heel for the brand, it’ll be interesting to see if this new approach yields better results. At the end of the day, the idea of a cheaper Steam Deck is almost just as compelling as the idea of an alternative to Valve's handheld PC.
There is one wrinkle here though. Bizarrely, the official blog post by Ayaneo about the device notes that “subscriptions” for it will open on January 11 2024. It’s unclear if this is some sort of translation error or whether the company are moving to a new business model from the crowdfunding-centric one that they’ve relied on to date. Stay tuned.
Update: Ayaneo has clarified that the Next Lite will run an unofficial port of SteamOS called HoloISO rather than the official one that powers Valve's handheld. It's also clarified that the device will not not cost a subscription.
