AYANEO says NEXT 2 preorder price is no longer sustainable
AYANEO has suspended sales of its NEXT 2 handheld through Indiegogo, just over a month after the campaign went live on February 10. In an update posted yesterday, the company said the device has been removed from all sales channels and can no longer be purchased through the campaign. Existing backers are not affected, and AYANEO says production will continue as planned.
According to AYANEO, the issue is a sharp rise in storage procurement costs. The company says prices were already high when NEXT 2 launched, but climbed again after the Chinese New Year, pushing total product cost far above the current selling price. AYANEO adds that it expected margins to be minimal at launch, but says the situation worsened to the point where continuing sales was no longer sustainable.
However, after the Chinese New Year, when we communicated with our suppliers again to confirm the latest storage procurement prices, we found that storage prices had increased to several times higher than before the holiday. Under such circumstances, the overall cost of the product has become far higher than our current selling price. Therefore, after careful consideration, we have decided to suspend the pre-orders of NEXT 2.
— AYANEO
The company also says this is not the end of the product. NEXT 2 sales are only being paused, and AYANEO says it may resume orders if storage prices return to what it considers reasonable levels. It did not provide any timeline for that. AYANEO also says after-sales support will remain in place and that spare parts will be prepared for long-term service.
AYANEO Founder & NEXT 2, Source: AYANEO
One of the few Strix Halo handhelds
NEXT 2 is AYANEO’s large-format flagship Windows handheld built around AMD’s Strix Halo platform. Official specs include up to the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, a 9.06-inch 2400×1504 OLED display with up to 165Hz refresh rate, and a 116Wh battery. AYANEO also offers a Ryzen AI Max 385 configuration.
Since we monitor AMD’s social channels, it is clear the company has shifted its focus to AI-oriented devices, large language model support, and related workloads. It has not promoted handheld gaming systems in any meaningful way. It looks like Strix Halo’s history as a gaming product is disappearing before our eyes.
Source: AYANEO (Indiegogo)
