Although the name doesn’t come up as often as it should, the OneXPlayer has its place in a market filled with near endless choice. Before the Steam Deck, before the Aya Neo Air, the heaviest hitter in the handheld PC space was the OneXPlayer.
Super-powered tech sat alongside a lush device with a frankly killer screen. The catch? It cost a bomb and wasn’t an affordable console by any means. Especially not when this week when we’ve had the Retroid Pocket 3 and the Logitech G Cloud being discussed, both of which cost well under $400.
This all brings us to today. OneXPlayer has shown off the OneXFly for the first time, and it looks to take its design cues from the Ayn Odin.
OneXFly: What We Know
Normally when a product gets announced, we at least have a few details to share. Today, there’s a little less than usual.
We know it’ll utilize the AMD Ryzen 5 7520U Mendocino, which is a processor designed for entry-level slim and light laptops. That’d make sense, to be honest. Handhelds and laptops share a lot of similar DNA, so what works for one should work for the other.
There’s also some talk of the OneXFly coming equipped with a six-inch, 1920 by 1080 screen, though this is yet to be confirmed so keep that salt handy.
There’s also some official chatter on Weibo saying the OneXFly will let owners customize their consoles with a name or word.
“The pilot series OnexFly is the first to use RBG lighting to customize the light plate on the handheld,” says OneXPlayer.
“As well, you can customize the console with your name, hero, partner, anniversary date, and more.”
That’s a funky little addition. Those of us with matching gamertags across multiple platforms are sure to get a kick out of seeing it on a handheld console like this. There’s no news on whether you can put swears or memes on the console, though. Oh well.
Conclusion
We were in two minds about including the OneXPlayer in our guide to the best handheld emulator consoles, purely because it costs so much. It’s a powerful console capable of a lot, but when your price is above the $1000 mark, it’s a hard sell.
It’s an especially harder sell when the lower price brackets are filled to the brim with quality. For people after power at a low price, there’s the Ayn Odin. If you’re a Game Pass or GeForce NOW player, there’s the Logitech G Cloud. Or if you’re after godly power capable of emulating all the retro systems, there’s the Steam Deck.
It’s not that the OneXPlayer is a bad console. It’s great, but you could buy all three of the above for the price of one OneXPlayer. That’s hardly compelling, eh?
If OneXPlayer is set to follow in the footsteps of the Ayn Odin, which those stylish RGB lights infer, then it’s going to have to price the OneXFly accordingly. There’s still a market for $1000-plus machines, but given that costs more than an actual gaming PC and won’t be as powerful, people are less willing to bite.
As choice in this market continues to expand, it’s up to companies to decide whether they want to compete or go after those with deep pockets. Either way, be sure to keep an eye on the RetroResolve Twitter for further updates as soon as they happen.
