Ayaneo unveils Pocket Play, a gaming smartphone with a slide-out gamepad, evoking Xperia Play nostalgia. Specs remain secret, with a full reveal coming soon.
© YouTube / Ayaneo
Ayaneo has unveiled its first gaming smartphone—and instead of rolling out another RGB-clad brick, it leans into Xperia Play nostalgia. The device, called Pocket Play, adopts a rare form factor for today’s market: a slide-out gamepad tucked beneath the display.
In a brisk two-minute teaser you can see a control panel that mirrors a portable console: a classic D-pad, action buttons, and two touch surfaces branded Smart Dual-Mode Touchpad. The footage shows they can behave both like a trackpad and like a virtual analog stick—useful for mobile action games and for emulators where accuracy counts.
From the outside, Pocket Play reads as a stylish smartphone with glass-and-aluminum construction. The back carries a dual camera with an LED flash, while speaker grilles around the frame suggest stereo sound. The screen doesn’t chase extreme edge-to-edge minimalism; the earpiece cutout hints at a more traditional front—unlike, for instance, the RedMagic 11 Pro line.
Ayaneo is keeping the specifications under wraps for now: there’s no word on chipset, memory, or battery capacity, with the reveal focused on design and concept. Even so, the pace makes it clear the project sits high on the company’s agenda: only about a month separates the late-October teaser from a more complete video. At this rate, a full Pocket Play announcement and a look at the hardware seem to be just weeks away.