Ayaneo is a brand of handheld PC systems that was made by a Chinese company. The concept is that you can play PC games on the go. These systems were strong enough to run the latest games available for the latest PC. Ayaneo has had a lot of these models, but the Ayaneo NEXT 2 was their next offering, and it is unfortunately having some issues.
What happened with the Ayaneo NEXT 2?
The Ayaneo NEXT 2 is currently under crowdfunding, with around $400,000+ money collected from backers. The problem now is that the developers have stopped getting any more pre-orders. The reason is that with the high costs of parts, the system has made it unsustainable for the developers to make more.
Issues with suppliers aren’t just about the costs but also about the parts themselves. There’s currently an ongoing surge or shortage of parts for electrical devices. Even the STEAM Machine is in peril because of these costs and the lack of parts. Rest assured, those who have already backed the program will get their Ayaneo NEXT 2.
How good was the Ayaneo NEXT 2 supposed to be?
The AYANEO NEXT 2 is designed to deliver performance that is closer to a gaming laptop than a typical handheld. It uses AMD’s Ryzen AI Max processors built on modern Zen 5 architecture, paired with powerful Radeon graphics that can approach the performance of dedicated GPUs. This allows the device to run demanding AAA games, handle multitasking, and even support creative workloads like video editing or streaming.
Unlike most handhelds that struggle with high-end games, the NEXT 2 can sustain high power output levels, meaning it can maintain smooth gameplay for longer sessions without heavy performance drops. For all intents and purposes, this was definitely going to be a portable PC in your hands.
What’s the deal with all of this PC parts shortage?
The shortage of PC parts is mainly driven by a massive surge in global demand. In recent years, more people have begun buying computers for gaming, remote work, and content creation. At the same time, entirely new demand came from artificial intelligence systems, which require powerful GPUs and large amounts of memory. Companies like NVIDIA and AMD suddenly found their products being used not just by gamers, but also by data centers and AI developers.
This created a situation where demand grew faster than manufacturers could keep up, especially for high-end components like GPUs and RAM. Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest reasons for the shortage. Training AI models requires thousands of GPUs running simultaneously, along with massive amounts of high-speed memory. Companies building AI systems are buying hardware in bulk, sometimes entire production batches at once.
In Conclusion
The promise is there, but handheld PCs like this can’t progress without the parts needed. This puts regular consumers and smaller companies at a disadvantage. Even if you’re just trying to build a gaming PC, you’re competing with billion-dollar AI firms for the same chips, which is a shame.
