TL;DR
- The Android-powered AYN Thor game handheld is increasing in price starting in April.
- AYN says the price increase is driven by increased costs of memory components.
- Memory components are in high demand due to AI data center construction, increasing the prices of consumer electronics generally.
The Android-powered AYN Thor gaming handheld is going up in price — again. Following its last price bump earlier this year, AYN has announced that it expects its Nintendo 3DS-style device will increase in price starting in April, though it didn’t say by how much.
AYN shared on its Discord that due to AI-driven RAM and storage cost increases, “we may expect a price adjustment” for Thor orders placed starting in April. The post says that the specific price increase will depend on the price it’s paying for components by then.
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The AYN Thor has been selling in batches, with pre-orders currently open for the third wave of production. Right now, prices range from $249 for the lowest-end model that comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, eight gigs of RAM, and 128 gigs of storage, all the way up to $449 for a version powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 16 gigs of RAM, along with a terabyte of storage.
Makers of consumer electronics are facing increased component costs driven predominantly by the AI industry. The data centers that power cloud-based AI software require lots of RAM and storage components; manufacturers of those components have limited production capacity, and increased demand has led to higher costs for makers of devices like smartphones and gaming handhelds. These costs are typically passed on to consumers.
Orders for the fourth batch of Thor handhelds open on March 1, ahead of AYN’s planned price increases. If you’re interested in picking one up, you might be able to save a few bucks by ordering sooner than later.
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