Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
TL;DR
- AYANEO announced it’s making a gaming phone with a physical sliding design, similar to the Xperia Play.
- The phone was teased during a livestream, but no specs, images, or release date were revealed.
- The move follows the expiration of the sliding phone patent and comes amid several other AYANEO hardware announcements.
AYANEO is branching out in an exciting way. At the end of a four-hour livestream packed with announcements, the company revealed it’s working on its first smartphone, which will have a physical slider in a similar concept to the old Xperia Play.
There’s no release date, no specs, and no images of the actual device yet, but AYANEO teased the gaming phone concept with a few slides and slogans like “you’ll feel the difference” and “the magic lies in the slide.” The announcement came in a segment called “One more thing III,” which pretty much tells you how packed the event already was.
The company didn’t show anything beyond a silhouette, but the implication is that this will be a gaming phone with physical controls that slide out — something we’ve been waiting to see since the Xperia Play or, more recently, the ANBERNIC RG Slide. That device launched soon after the patent for sliding phones expired, and AYANEO now seems to be following suit.
AYANEO has been busy lately. Earlier in the same livestream, it showed off the dual-screen Pocket DS Android handheld, as well as a Game Boy-style vertical console and a new budget sub-brand called KONKR. The new phone feels part of a broader push into different form factors. It’s not a huge leap, considering AYANEO already makes high-end Android handhelds.
For now, there’s not much to go on besides that it exists and is in development. But if the final product delivers, it could be a big deal for mobile gamers. We’ll watch for more details as they arrive, and it’s worth keeping an eye out for a blog post about the livestream on the company’s news center.
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