The AYANEO Kun is now available to order on the IndieGoGo website and features high-end tech and a massive battery that puts the Steam Deck to shame.
Highlights.
- Prices for the AYANEO Kun start at $999.
- Features an 8.4-inch 1600p screen.
- Also includes a massive 75-watt-hour battery (19500mAh).
The Full Story.
Gaming handheld boutique AYANEO is gearing up to release the AYANEO Kun on September 5, the company’s largest handheld to date.
Headlining the device is the introduction of a huge 75-watt-hour battery. According to AYANEO’s internal testing, the Kun handheld should be able to reach up to three hours of playtime when playing at 15 watts with a power usage of 2.9 percent, and up to an hour at a higher power usage of 73 percent. Not bad, eh?
To put this in perspective, both the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally use a 40-watt-hour battery. The AYANEO Kun, meanwhile, offers an increase of 35 watt hours. That’s around a 47 percent increase over the Deck and Ally.
The AYANEO Kun boasts an 8.4-inch screen that comes with 99.70 percent sRGB coverage, versus the Steam Deck’s pitiful 67 percent, and features 350 pixels per inch (PPI). It’s also one of the first devices outside of the Steam Deck to offer touchpad support.
AYANEO Kun Specifications Explained.
Like many companies in the handheld gaming scene, AYANEO Has opted for the ever-popular Ryzen 7 7840U. You’ll find that same processor in a lot of devices of late, including the OneXPlayer and the ASUS ROG Ally (the Ally uses a modified Ryzen 7 7840U known as the Z1 Extreme).
With the AYANEO Kun, it’s not a simple case of specs equalling power. The Ryzen 7 here is powerful but what separates the Kun from other handhelds is how much power the device is capable of drawing. AYANEO says you can get up to 54 watts, which is pretty high.
There are also a host of handheld-specific features you rarely see in other consoles. The back buttons are customizable, the triggers and sticks both use Hall effect tech to avoid drift, and you’ve got two touchpads, which is sure to make navigating the Windows operating system all the easier.
Given the specs, the AYANEO Kun should be able to play every AAA game out there with performance varying from game to game.
| AYANEO Kun Specifications. |
| CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U. |
| Screen Size: 8.4-inch IPS screen capable of 1600P. |
| Brightness: 500 nits. |
| TDP: Up to 54 watts. |
| Battery: 75Wh (19500mAh). |
| Heat dissipation: AYANEO’s KUNPeng. |
| Touchpads: Two TuchTAPMagic touchpads. |
| Directional pad: ‘Floating’ eight-way D-pad. |
| Camera: Front-facing camera with Windows Hello face recognition support. |
| Anti-drift: Hall-sensing joystick and Hall effect triggers. |
| Game launcher: AYASpace 2 |
| Misc: Customizable back buttons, AYANEO Hyper Sound stereo dual speakers. |
Performance Results.
AYANEO also sent along some performance data for how games run on the AYANEO Kun. One thing to note, the below results are from AYANEO. I – like others – tend to always get different results whenever I test stuff. That’s not to say the AYANEO readings are wrong, but there are multiple factors that can affect game performance. So treat the below as a ballpark rather than a fixed result.
I’d also point out it’s not clear which version of the Kun these results were tested on. The 64GB model is sure to offer up different results to the base 16GB model, for example. So, again, ballpark.
| Game. | 15 Watts. | 30 Watts. | 54 Watts. |
| Forza Horizon 5. | 54 to 63 FPS. | 74 to 87 FPS. | 80 to 87 FPS. |
| Horizon: Zero Dawn. | 35 to 36 FPS. | 38 to 40 FPS. | 41 to 43 FPS. |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. | 33 to 35 FPS. | 34 to 43 FPS. | 43 to 48 FPS. |
AYANEO Kun Price Information.
As is customary in this field, you’ve got four different models of the AYANEO Kun to choose from. Your main choice here is boiled down to how much RAM and storage you want.
If you’re picking the device up early you’ll get the best price. Just keep in mind those early bird prices are normally always extremely limited. If you’re not quick enough, chances are you’ll be paying the IndieGoGo price.
| AYANEO Kun Model. | Early Bird Price. | IndieGoGo Price. | Retail Price. |
| 16GB RAM with 512GB SSD. | $999 | $1129 | $1209 |
| 32GB RAM with 1TB SSD. | $1159 | $1229 | $1319 |
| 32GB RAM with 2TB SSD. | $1259 | $1329 | $1419 |
| 64GB RAM with 4TB SSD. | $1699 | $1809 | $1949 |
Want another comparison? The closest handheld out there to the AYANEO Kun right now is the ASUS ROG Ally, which comes in at $699 but lacks the higher TDP, touchpads, and has a smaller screen at seven inches.
If you’re after something cheaper, the Steam Deck remains the king with prices starting from $399. Just remember with the Steam Deck you’ll be using a Linux-based operating system. There are a few drawbacks to using Linux, but the main one is simply certain games just won’t work. Although Windows is clunkier than SteamOS, knowing everything should work takes a lot of the guesswork out.
Conclusion.
It’s easy to see the appeal of the AYANEO Kun: High-end power with a bigger is better approach. That 8.4-inch screen has me intrigued. Is there a limit to what someone can hold? We’re about to find out.
The touchpads are a very welcome addition, too. One of the biggest complaints of the ROG Ally is the lack of touchpads and the reliance on sticks to move the mouse cursor. These should, in theory, make moving around within Windows 11 a lot more intuitive.
Price-wise, it makes sense. It’s more than both the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck in terms of price and power. And the extra TDP options should yield stronger performance. As someone who uses the ROG Ally hooked up to a 4090 XG Mobile, the biggest bottleneck right now is RAM. Having those extra options is always a good thing, although I’m not convinced anyone needs 64GB of RAM just yet.
How well the AYANEO Kun will take remains to be seen. But going from the specs and power, it’s got the potential to be one of the best handhelds of the year.
