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Let’s cut straight to the chase. The AYN Thor is one of the greatest retro-focused handhelds of the year, maybe even the decade.

During my review process, I have been incredibly impressed with what this has offered, not only in terms of emulation performance, but build quality and overall gaming exploration on the go.

That said, some areas could be improved, and I found areas where Android emulation hits its limits due to the fast-paced nature of this market and the fact that emulators are still in a grey area in terms of legalities and independent management, more so 3DS Emulation.

It’s also worth noting that this device is not one I can recommend for beginners to the scene.

I know some of you reading this may have come here from the social hype of this device, and there’s good reason for that, but it’s certainly a handheld that requires previous emulation experience, due to the long and cumbersome setup process to get this Android device working the way it’s intended.

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The handheld featured in this review was purchased by the RetroDodo team for $349 and is not a review sample sent from AYN themselves. I am reviewing the “Pro” version featuring the 8 Gen 2 CPU & 12GB of RAM.

9.4

Your Last Dual-Screen Handheld

Build Quality9.5

Display Quality10

Emulation Quality9.5

Comfortability8.5

Portability10

UX/OS9

• Release Date: October 2025
• Pricing: $249 - $429
• Where To Buy: AYNTec.com
• Competition: AYANEO Pocket DS & Retroid Pocket Flip 2

AYN Thor Specifications (My Unit)

• Primary Screen: 6“ AMOLED 1920 x 1080 @120hz
• Secondary Screen: 3.92“ AMOLED 1240 x 1080 @60hz
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Processor
• Adreno 740 CPU
• 12GB RAM
• 6000MAH Battery
• Android 13
• Weight 380g

Two AMOLED Displays?

First, let’s talk about the displays, because they’re one of the most beautiful parts of this device. The top display is a 6“ AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution that can run at 120Hz.

It’s incredibly crisp, very bright and an all-round pleasure to use daily. It makes retro games bright and nostalgic, but also takes Android games and Cloud Streaming seriously if you’re willing to squint a little.

6“ is big enough to make consoles such as PSP, PS2 and 3DS look great, with enough space to read text without things feeling claustrophobic or the need to squint. The same applies to most Android games, an area I have recently enjoyed exploring after reviewing the KONKR Pocket Fit. These looked and felt great, especially at high frame rates.

However, Cloud Streaming, and trying to squeeze AAA games on here from Xbox Game Pass, for example, felt a little too cramped for my liking. Which did surprise me as I streamed a lot of games on the AYANEO Pocket Flip DS, which in comparison had a 7“ screen, which is only an extra inch, but as we all know, every little helps.

The bottom display is also AMOLED, which is absolutely bonkers; they could have got away with it not being, but no corners were cut here, and they went all out, adding a 3.92“ AMOLED display tucked between the controls, and it rocks.

Admittedly, I rarely found myself gaming on here. Still, the crispness is very obvious when using Android, exploring the web and adjusting settings, which gives it that premium look which won’t go outdated in a few years.

I found myself not wanting to turn this bottom display off as it feels wasted, but sometimes my hand was forced, which I’ll talk about shortly in this review. I have zero issues with the displays used here; they are remarkable.

Do you really need two screens, though?

And that’s a question I want a lot of you to force yourself to answer. It’s easy to say yes, of course, but in reality, after weeks of using this, I found myself only using one screen 70% of the time.

The bottom screen would just be left on, showing performance stats, which I don’t really need most of the time, or I’ll use it to multitask when playing slow-paced RPGs with music or YouTube videos. And even then, I am thinking to myself... this is a lot of screen, there’s a lot going on, I just want to focus on... the game.

There’s no denying it’s magical when playing 3DS games, and that’s a reason in itself to go for dual-screens, but most of the time, I do not need two screens, which surprised me as I believed, and talked myself into thinking I did.

The Clamshell Design & Hinge Quality

Clamshells were originally designed to make devices more portable, and I would say that the AYN Thor is certainly portable in the sense of putting it in a sling or tucked away in a small backpack, but not one I found myself putting in my pocket.

It’s a tad too big for that, in my opinion. The clamshell nature also allows for more screen real estate and streamlined analogue sticks, which keep things looking modern and compact.

The hinge is one thing many of you are concerned about, seeing as some manufacturers in the space have had troubles with it. This hinge works, but I do have some minor concerns here, and worry about its longevity.

That’s not because it’s of low quality, no. It’s because of the way it works. When closed, the first 50% is easy to open, with almost no force to it, which is nice as you don’t need to force your fingers under the display, nor do you need a good grip. It will simply fling open if moved with force.

The next 50% which is from 90 degrees open to full 180, where the screen sits flat with the body, is much tighter, allowing it to be fixed into 3 “locked” positions. Each offering great viewing angles.

However, my albeit small issue is when closing it beyond the last 50%. Because they’ve designed it to open easily, it also closes easily... far too easily. To a point where it slams shut with little force and little padding at the end, so you almost get this clack every time it shuts.

For me, this gives it too much force, and the tiny rubber pads on the chin aren’t enough to take that force, so I worry that over months/years, and thousands of closures, this could rattle the screen a bit too much.

We’re all adults and can close this slowly, but I found myself naturally closing it far too hard because I sub-consciously think it can take the force, and it might in all honesty, but there’s no denying it shuts too aggressively, and too quickly for my liking.

When closed, I did notice that there’s a large, noticeable gap between the display and the controls. So much so that a credit card, or something thin, can easily fall into here, and likely slide out the other side. It’s such a big gap that you can completely look through it when held up to your eyes.

I can’t imagine how this would be an issue, but its something that I noticed and looks unnatural in a way. It’s because it sits on the high chin.

Button Quality

Let’s start with the face. It’s compact, and maybe overstimulating for many of us. A lot is going on, and that’s unfortunately mandatory to give gamers what they need: a wide selection of buttons to match a wide selection of games.

The DPAD feels very much like a PS Vita; it’s again compact, fast, with near-zero travel to them, and is a retro-grey colour with small embossed arrows on each side. It works well and fits this compact aesthetic nicely.

Above that is a hall joystick with a large rubber top that has detailing around the edges for extra grip. These are not removable and sit deep into the handheld to allow the clamshell to shut.

It also has LEDs underneath it to customise its colour to add to the modern look that this is going for. These sticks are great, have great distance between each direction, click in well and are of incredible quality. They don’t touch the sides of the dome either, so you won’t find the rubber peeling off in a few months.

Across the top of the controls is a start and select button hidden in the same colour as the shell to try and make it look less chaotic.

Then come the action buttons, which are dual-color and injection moulded, which make them feel incredibly premium, and the colours do indeed pop on my rainbow edition. These are again compact and small but feel nostalgic in the sense that they dip deep into the shell when pressed, which I love.

However, when pressing the A button, I did notice that it... chirps. Yes, chirps. They sit so tightly in the shell that if pressed at a certain angle, the plastics will rub and put out a squeaking noise.

The noise isn’t loud, but quiet enough that it will make your partner look at the window to see if there’s a robin yapping on your windowsill. This may relieve itself after a few more weeks, but it’s worth noting, likely because the buttons are just a tad too tight in their seat.

On the chin, you’ll find two speaker grills, a home button, and a raised area at the bottom that houses the AYN button. This opens up the bottom screen menu alongside two very small and very thin rubber pads to unsuccessfully stop the screen from slamming shut. And finally, a back button.

You’ll notice the control area is also covered in a glass panel, which is all the trend recently, and adds to the modern, premium look without making it look overrun by plastic. Just keep a microfiber cloth close by.

Around the sides of the device, you’ll find all of your buttons at the front, featuring a volume button, an on/off button, a USB-C port, a headphone jack and your SD-card slot.

Up top, your stacked analogue shoulder buttons. These are very high quality. R2 and L2 are ever so slightly flaired and have enough space to rest your index fingers comfortably.

They do stick out of the shell slightly and add a thicker part to the backshell towards the top, but that aside, they are superb, responsive, and can be pressed from multiple angles easily. They’re lovely shoulder buttons.

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Comfortability

The AYN Thor has focused more on portability rather than comfort; otherwise, it would look more like the AYANEO Pocket DS, featuring thick grips on the back and oversized shoulder buttons.

I think AYN made the right decision here, and we all somewhat expect that sacrifice on a 6“ clamshell handheld. Would I like it to be more comfortable, yes, absolutely.

Because this device is so incredibly capable and has good battery life, I did find myself playing for over 3 hours in a single go a few times, and you do feel that in your hands because of the lack of grips.

The corners do dig into your hands, and the slight uneven weight distribution on the main screen puts an extra bit of force on your wrists to balance it out. But we all knew that was going to be the case before buying it, and it’s the price we pay with clamshell devices.

So, although this isn’t the most comfortable handheld on the block, I am happy to take that hit for what this offers.

Audio Quality

The audio quality could be better, but it’s not a dealbreaker. It’s a little tinny, almost zero base and certainly not one that you want to play at full volume.

It will get you through certain games for sure, but after a few months of us,e I think many of you will come to agree with me.

The speakers are also front-facing and are located under your hands when using the handheld, so there is an obstruction of the audio, too, which doesn’t help.

But in all honesty, most handhelds which I review all have similar quality audio; it’s only now in late 2025 where we’re seeing advancements in tech and pricing, so I feel it’s right to start being more firm on sound quality.

Because let’s face it, on a $300+ device, I want great speakers, even if I don’t use them all the time. There are Android applications allowing you to tweak the speaker output, for those who want to tinker, however.

OS/UX

The AYN Thor runs on Android 13, allowing you to customise this like a mobile phone or tablet, except with a crazy amount of power, a controller, and two screens attached.

The setup is pretty simple, using Android’s step-by-step process, you then jump into the Play Store to install your games, apps and emulators.

This does take time and will require previous knowledge in setting this all up, alongside installing ROMs, bios, and configuring your emulator’s controls. This will be difficult for newcomers to the handheld scene. So if you are buying this for someone else, throw them some links to guides at the same time.

If you know what you’re doing, it’ll be easy. Because it’s Android, you can install your own front ends, customise them to the way you want, download launchers and so on. You can really turn this into your own fully customised handheld, and that’s the magic of Android.

AYN have its own launcher called “Odin” Launcher, which I believe they forgot to rename, and it will simply show all of your chosen applications in a more organised manner, but in all honesty, it’s pretty bleak.

The AYN button, though, is nice, bringing up a custom dashboard showing frame rates, handheld temperature, fan output, GPU performance and some quick buttons to settings.

Emulation Quality

This thing is an absolute beast. Impressively so. AYN have just crafted one of the best retro handhelds ever made, in a compact form-factor, with great buttons, two screens and serious emulation capabilities.

It’s the device you experience and instantly go “holy smokes”.

I was emulating PlayStation 2 on this thing, flicking it to 1.5x upscaling while watching YouTube videos. It performed perfectly, then I upped it to 2x, it laughed in my face, then to 3x, and it’s still laughing at me, putting me back in my seat with a smile.

“Could this be the one?” I said to myself, as if I were Morphius putting Neo to the test in Karate.

PlayStation 2 at 3x/4x native resolution looked incredible, and it’s one of the first times I have experienced this fluidly on a 6“ retro handheld.

To cut to the chase, this can emulate all of your retro consoles (which have good working Android emulators) incredibly well, at upscaled resolutions. It will get a little warm, and you will need to pump on the fans in certain situations, but that’s normal.

Nintendo 3DS is capable here, and is a bunch of fun to experience on a compact, premium handheld of this nature. It’s like a Nintendo DS on steroids. It’s so much fun.

The only issue I had with 3DS emulation is with the apps themselves. Although these apps and the designers behind them have been working on this app for years, you will find minor bugs and issues when using the dual-screens.

Setup is a ballache, there are no reliable 3DS emulators on the PlayStore, so you have to download the Azahar APK externally.

Imagine saying that to a friend who has no idea about emulation and wants one of these handhelds. “Make sure to sideload Azahar via an APK outside the PlayStore, don’t forget the bios and make sure to change the extension of your ROM files to .CCI and not .3DS or it won’t work”.

And that’s not a joke, to get this to work fluidly, I had to do all that and even decrypt my ROMs, and relabel them to get this to work well.

You’ll find that some ROMs just aren’t working well, some audio stutters now and then, and that’s because they’re still technically under development. Emulator nerds will argue with me here, but I like to review these things from an average consumer’s perspective; it’s tedious AF.

I am hoping that in a few months or in later in the year, the developers will iron these bugs out, seeing as there’s now an influx of dual-screen handhelds coming into market, such as the ANBERNIC RG DS too, which is under $100.

If you could persist, have patience and push through the tutorials, you will experience 3DS on this remarkable device and enjoy it.

Older consoles such as PSP, PS1, N64, Dreamcast, and GameCube all work remarkably well on here, upscaled to stupid resolutions. It’s an all-around emulation goliath and once set up, it’s a boatload of fun, like the most fun I’ve had on a retro handheld in years.

Some of you will ask if this can emulate Nintendo Switch, and it can, but I don’t want to put a spotlight on that, as I believe we should be supporting current available games, and also the fact that Nintendo might come knocking, because they do, even if it’s legal to do so with your own games.

Overall Opinion

Pros

• Two Beautiful AMOLED Displays
• Incredible Emulation Performance
• Superb Build Quality & Buttons

Cons

• 3DS Emulation Still In Development
• Squeaky Action Button
• Speaker Quality

The AYN Thor pushes Android emulators to their limits, and even portable handheld gaming, for that matter.

It’s crazy to think that they’ve packed two AMOLED displays and all of this power into a beautifully crafted, portable handheld that is quickly becoming one of my favourites of the year.

It will handle every retro console you throw at it, alongside the addition of high-end Android gaming. AYN have just made their mark, and it’s a mark no other handheld manufacturer can ignore.

At times, you will find that two screens are too much, and at times, you will find that 3DS emulation will play up unnaturally, but that’s okay because you can turn off the bottom display and wait patiently for 3DS emulators to get updated.

This is one of the best Android handhelds ever made, and is the best dual-screen retro handheld I have ever reviewed, with respectable battery life too.

Great work, AYN. Thank you for making something truly unique for a respectable price.

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