TL;DR
- AYANEO just teased the KONKR Pocket FIT Elite, which may have a Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC.
- It would be the first gaming handheld with that chipset, which offers far more power than anything on the market.
- It will start at less than $399, with a Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 variant starting at less than $329.
This week has been crazy for gaming handhelds, with two new dual-screen devices dropping at exceptionally competitive prices. This morning, at a sharing session for the first device from AYANEO’s new budget-minded sub-brand KONKR, the company dropped another bombshell: The KONKR Pocket FIT Elite.
Now, the Pocket FIT was revealed earlier this month to have the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chipset, which is already the most powerful processor on any handheld we’ve seen so far. It follows the SUGAR 1 and AYANEO Pocket S2, both of which had absolutely incredible performance in our testing.
But the Elite variant might blow all those away with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It’s in the name, right? It has to be true.
Well, things aren’t so clear. AYANEO stopped short of confirming that it will pack the same processor that powered 2025’s flagship phones. Instead, it juxtaposed the G3 Gen 3 model next to a presumably more powerful model, called the Elite.
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It’s still not clear whether Elite is just part of the name of the handheld (like Pro or Portal), or a reference to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Complicating things further, there’s no Snapdragon logo next to the Pocket FIT Elite, while there is one next to the standard model. Any mention of the chipset is removed from the specs page in the launch video seen at the top of this article.
That could mean it has a completely different chipset, perhaps even a MediaTek SoC like the Dimensity 9400. That would also be a first, as until now, AYANEO has only used MediaTek chips in mid-range devices like the Pocket Micro.
A Snapdragon 8 Elite handheld would have worse driver support and thermals.
Regardless of which chipset it turns out to be, it might not be such a big leap in emulation performance. The most demanding emulators for Switch and PS3 rely heavily on community drivers, which is why Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices generally offer better results than more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite phones.
Additionally, the 8 Elite runs incredibly hot, which isn’t ideal for the sustained performance required from these kinds of gaming devices.
Although AYANEO didn’t reveal the Pocket FIT Elite’s chipset, it did hint at its pricing. It will start at less than $399, which would be an absolute steal for a Snapdragon 8 Elite gaming handheld. The Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 variant will start at less than $329, which is also a great deal for what will undoubtedly be one of the most powerful gaming handhelds on the market.
Neither of these devices is up for sale yet, but a full launch event is coming sometime in September. Before then, we’ll have all the details about the AYN Odin 3, which will likely compete directly with the Pocket FIT. That may explain why AYANEO is being so coy with final pricing. After all, the AYN Thor undercut its Pocket DS just a few days after launch.
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