At this point, Anbernic wants to design enough handhelds to match every single person’s idea of their perfect device.
Drum roll... Anbernic’s next retro handheld is the RG40XX H (H for horizontal design). Anbernic has plenty of horizontal options already, but this one will be for those of you who want a larger display and better joysticks than the RG35XX H, but not the square display of the recently released RG Cube.
The RG40XX H’s design and configuration give off hints of the PS Vita thanks to its rounded shell and symmetrical joysticks, but it’s not as close to a spiritual successor to Sony’s handheld as Ayn’s Odin2 Mini. The RG40XX H might not be a significant enough upgrade if you already own a horizontal Anbernic device, but it looks like another affordable option if you haven’t jumped into the world of handheld retro game emulation yet.
Powerful Enough for Dreamcast Emulation
Anbernic says the RG40XX H will have a four-inch display with a 640 x 480 resolution. That’s more than double the resolution of the original Game Boy Advance, so revisiting any retro games should look a lot more crisp on Anbernic’s upcoming handheld.
On the inside, Anbernic is using the same H700 chip that we see in the RG35XX models, meaning the RG40XX H can handle emulating PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Sega Dreamcast games. In a video posted by Anbernic, the handheld maker confirms the RG40XX H’s 5GHz Wi-Fi (with support for Moonlight streaming), Bluetooth 4.2, and HDMI video out. Now, we just need specs for the RAM, storage, and battery capacity.
On the controls front, the joysticks have some RGB to them, lighting up the sticks as you rotate them. According to Anbernic, the joystick brightness and colors are fully adjustable and support 16 million colors and five ambient lighting modes.
Anbernic’s also confirmed the RG40XX H will come in plain black, white, and blue. It doesn’t look like there are any transparent variants right now, which is a little surprising since Anbernic’s other handhelds all look great see-through shells.
RG40XX H Price Speculation
We don’t have any pricing details for the RG40XX H yet, but considering the the bump up in display size, we can make an informed guess that it’ll be more expensive than the current RG35XX H, which goes for $67.99 on Anbernic’s website. However, it’s unlikely that the RG40XX H will be as expensive as the company’s other horizontal handhelds, like the RG405M, which has better specs and an aluminum chassis.
As always, now that Anbernic has a video out showing the RG40XX H, the handheld’s release should be pretty soon. Let’s not forget that the company just released the highly-awaited RG35XX SP a little more than a month ago.
