It's official, Ayaneo is stepping into the gaming phone arena. The brand has made serious headway in 2025, releasing multiple handhelds, but now it's revealed the Ayaneo Pocket Play. However, this is an Android gaming phone with a difference, seemingly paying tribute to the iconic Sony Xperia Play with a sliding form factor, which could help it stand out from the crowd of brick-shaped handsets.
As you can see in the teaser video further down this page, the Ayaneo Pocket Play's display slides upwards to reveal a d-pad, some face buttons, and two touch-sensitive pads in place of joysticks, much like the iconic Sony phone. It's a pretty bold move to opt for this sort of form factor for a debut, but Ayaneo is a fan of taking inspiration from iconic devices, as it has with the Pocket DS, its Nintendo DS clone, and the Game Boy-style Pocket Vert.
Despite revealing the form factor, we don't have much in the way of confirmed specs for the Ayaneo Pocket Play. Given that it's a gaming phone, we'd anticipate a pretty decent processor, likely a Snapdragon chip. I'm also holding out hope for an OLED display, as that's the standard in 2025, as you can tell by the fact that all the top picks from our guide to the best gaming phones boast OLED screens.
We also don't have a release date or any indication of how much the Ayaneo Pocket Play might cost, but following the official reveal, we shouldn't have to wait too long for that information. Ayaneo tends to release details pretty rapidly following an initial reveal, so I'll be keeping a close eye on the brand's social media channels going forward for any further announcements.
In terms of the Pocket Play's rivals, there aren't as many gaming-oriented phones on the market as there used to be, with only the REDMAGIC 11 Pro launching in recent months. However, we also usually get a new Asus ROG handset around this time of year, so there could be more competitors by the time we get our hands on the Ayaneo phone. For now, we'll just have to wait and see.