The Aya Neo Finally Launches This Week, if You’re Sick of Waiting for the Steam Deck in Australia

The Aya Neo Finally Launches This Week, if You’re Sick of Waiting for the Steam Deck in Australia
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Announced back in June, the Aya Neo Next is a handheld gaming tablet running Windows 10, designed to sit in competition with Valve’s Steam Deck. What the Aya Neo Next has going for it over the Steam Deck, at least for Australian gamers, is that it will actually launch in Australia.

The device, which launches here in August, comes in two flavours: The Aya Neo Next serves as the standard edition and the Aya Neo Next Pro, which comes with double the RAM and storage space. The Pro may be harder to come by in Australia, as local retailers appear to be favouring the standard model for now.

The Aya Neo Next replaces the previous 2021 model with a more ergonomic design and a longer battery life. If it can get past the one-hour battery on the Steam Deck, I think we’ll all consider it a rousing success.

One of the Aya Neo Next’s biggest value propositions is that, unlike the Steam Deck, this is a Windows tablet. This means that, like a normal PC, you are free to install not just Steam but also Xbox, Epic, Origin, Ubisoft, and any others that take your fancy. This means your selection of games, wide as they already are on Steam, is even wider than what the Deck can offer.

Where the Steam Deck makes up some ground here is that Valve works with developers to create Steam Deck Certified versions of games that will perform well on the hardware. There’s no such guarantee here. You’ll just have to play with the settings until you can get your games to run smoothly (again, just like a regular PC).

In terms of its dimensions, according to Shannon over at Press Start who was sent a unit for review, it’s slightly smaller in the hand than the Steam Deck.

Tech specs for the Aya Neo Next

Aya Neo Next preorder
Image: Aya Neo

Here’s the spec sheet for the Aya Neo Next:

  • AMD Ryzen 7 5825U ZEN 3, 7nm, 8-core, 16-thread Base 2.0 GHz, Max 4.5 GHz 4MB L2, 16MB L3
  • AMD Radeon Vega 8 2000MHz 16GB LPDDR4x 4266MHz
  • 1TB / 2TB M.2 (NVMe) 2280
  • 7.0 Inch LCD IPS 1280 X 800, 5-Point Capacitive Touch
  • Hall Effect Sensor (Joysticks, Triggers)
  • Fingerprint Unlock One-touch Wake Up
  • 47Wh / 4100mAh 11.55V, Li-ion
  • Full Function Type C * 2
  • PD 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4, 4K 60fps
  • 3.5mm Jack
  • 267 x 112 x 30 mm, 720g
  • Creative Color Options

And the spec sheet for the Aya Neo Next Pro:

    • AMD Ryzen 7 5825U ZEN 3, 7nm, 8-core, 16-thread Base 2.0 GHz, Max 4.5 GHz 4MB L2, 16MB L3
    • AMD Radeon Vega 8 2000MHz 16GB LPDDR4x 4266MHz
    • 1TB / 2TB M.2 (NVMe) 2280
    • 7.0 Inch LCD IPS 1280 X 800, 5-Point Capacitive Touch
    • Hall Effect Sensor (Joysticks, Triggers)
    • Fingerprint Unlock One-touch Wake Up
  • 47Wh / 4100mAh 11.55V, Li-ion
  • Full Function Type C * 2
  • PD 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4, 4K 60fps
  • 3.5mm Jack
  • 267 x 112 x 30 mm, 720g
  • Creative Color Options

Both units come in a black or white colour scheme.

Pricing and preorders

In Australia, the Aya Neo Next will run you $2,099.95. At this stage, it doesn’t look like any local retailers have SKUs for the Pro, but we’ll keep you updated there. It also seems like most retailers only have it in the Jet Black edition, too.

So, the big question is, where can you preorder the Aya Neo Next?

Amazon Australia already has preorders live, but it looks like any newer orders will ship after the launch date – so don’t expect to get your hands on it until next week at the earliest. You can also preorder the Aya Neo Next over at EB Games, which is asking for a $300 deposit. Amazon Australia and EB Games are both taking preorders for the Aya Neo Air Pro handheld too.

JB Hi-Fi has a preorder page up and running, but the Aya Neo Next’s release date is listed as 14 October now, so you might have to wait a bit for yours to arrive. You can also preorder the Aya Neo Air Pro.

Big W and The Gamesmen both have product pages up for the Aya Neo Next, but it looks like both retailers have closed preorders for now. Big W and The Gamesmen also have preorders available for the Air Pro too.

You can also order the device from the official Aya Neo store, but be aware that pricing is calculated in USD.

The Aya Neo Next launches in Australia on 31 August, while the Air Pro will be available from 11 November.

This article has been updated since its original publication.


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