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Apple MacBook Air M3 vs M2 vs M1: Which one should you buy?

Nikhil Shrestha

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April 22, 2024

Apple MacBook Air M3 vs M2 vs M1: Which one should you buy?

MacBook Air M1, MacBook Air M2, MacBook Air M3, actually which one’s the best for you? I know that’s a tough question to answer because I was in the exact same spot not too long ago when one of my friends asked my recommendation for the best entry-level MacBook right now.

Should I save a few bucks and go with the older MacBook Air M1? Should I spend a little more on the newer MacBook Air M2? Or does it make more sense to get the latest M3 model instead?

For what it’s worth, all three of them are damn good laptops that I’d be more than happy to have as my everyday carry. That combination of reliable performance, great battery life, excellent display, and everything else — all on a completely silent machine — is not something I’m gonna find anywhere else.

So to figure it all out, I did exactly what you’d expect. I bought a MacBook Air M3, borrowed the MacBook Air M1 and the MacBook Air M2 (review) from my colleagues, and got to work right away. And after about a week or so, I’m finally prepared to help you pick the perfect Apple MacBook in Nepal for you. Let’s begin.

Apple MacBook Air M3 vs M2 vs M1: Specifications

	MacBook Air M1	MacBook Air M2	MacBook Air M3
Announced	November 2020	June 2022	March 2024
Weight	1.29 kg	1.24 kg
Screen	13.3” Retina display, 400 nits	13.3” Liquid Retina display, 500 nits
Processor	Apple M1 (5nm)	Apple M2 (5nm+)	Apple M3 (3nm)
CPU	8 cores (4 performance + 4 efficiency cores)
GPU	7 / 8 cores GPU	8 / 10 cores GPU
Memory	8/16GB unified memory	8/16/24GB unified memory
Storage	256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB (non-expandable)
Webcam	720p FaceTime HD camera	1080p FaceTime HD camera
Battery	49.9 Wh battery	52.6 Wh battery
I/O Ports	2x Thunderbolt / USB4 1x 3.5mm headphone jack	2x Thunderbolt / USB4 1x 3.5mm headphone jack 1x MagSafe 3
Price in Nepal (8/256GB)	NPR 115,000	NPR 155,000	NPR 184,900
Price in Nepal (8/256GB)	(Buy here)	(Buy here)	(Buy here)

Apple MacBook Air M3 vs M2 vs M1 review:

Alright. I guess it probably goes without saying that performance is really what sets these three apart, right? And I’ll tell you one thing right away, the M1 chip is almost four years old now, but it’s still kicking ass. While Apple’s newer M2 and M3 chips have mostly been impressive, yet iterative upgrades when you think about it.

And those “upgrades” I just talked about? They’re the kind of upgrades you’re gonna see either in benchmarks or some really, really specific workloads only. Don’t worry, I’ll get into the benchmark numbers and all those juicy details in just a second but… what about everything else? How’s their design? What’s the display like? Or the battery life?

Meanwhile, check out all the prices and specs of MacBooks here

Design and Build

Okay, besides the processor, you’re not gonna find a whole lot of difference in these three generations of MacBook Airs elsewhere either. The M1 Air does look a bit “old” in comparison but… does it even matter?

I can’t say it does, to be honest, because this thing is a perfectly well-made machine with a sturdy build quality and everything. Whereas the M2 and the M3 Air are like that Spiderman pointing meme — you can’t tell which one’s which just by looking at them.

So with the M1 Air, you’re getting the classic tapered design that Apple has since abandoned in favor of the squared-off look on the newer MacBook Airs. I know some folks are still somewhat bummed with this change but at this point, all I care about is the fact that Apple hasn’t given up on just how well-built these things are. That’s it. The M2 and the M3 Airs are also actually a tad bit thinner and lighter, which is all the more impressive.

No MagSafe for M1 Air

And the MagSafe port on these two means I have both Thunderbolt connections to myself for data transfer, connecting an external display, or literally anything else even when the laptop’s plugged in. Although I still don’t leave the house without my USB-C hub since I’m constantly working with a bunch of peripherals like a thumb drive and an SD card.

That reminds me, the M3 Air finally lets you connect two external displays as well, versus how the M1 and the M2 models can only add a single external monitor. The weird thing is it only works with the laptop lid closed but hey, you wanted to connect multiple displays to your MacBook Air? Well… there you go… now you can.

Display

As for the display on the MacBook itself, the M1 Air is once again outshined by its younger siblings. Quite literally. The thing is, while this guy maxes out at 400 nits of brightness, both M2 and M3 Airs can get 25% brighter. So if you’re someone who travels or works outdoors a lot, that extra pinch of brightness is definitely gonna come in handy.

Display brightness

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Apple’s newer MacBook Airs also have richer colors and punchier contrast but I don’t think that’s something most people are going to notice. Or even care about.

Color gamut

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Especially since the M1 Air has excellent color calibration right out of the box just like the other two. With 100% sRGB and nearly 100% P3 color coverage. The one thing that kinda sucks here are those thick bezels but let me assure you, the bezels sort of… melt away once you actually start using the laptop. It’s really not a big deal.

Webcam

But yeah, the M2 and M3 MacBook Airs are wayyy too ahead when it comes to the camera.

Like… it’s not even a competition. Both of them use a 1080p camera — unlike the M1 Air’s 720p sensor — and the result is this vastly superior image quality with better details, lesser noise, and all that stuff. Whereas the M3 Air takes things a step further with improved voice pickup. There’s no option to enable or disable it and it just… kinda works on its own by shushing the background noise down a notch.

M1 M2 M3 MacBook Air - Voice Isolation — Image: Apple

Apple mentions how “voice isolation” and “wide spectrum” microphone modes that filter out or enhance background sounds are exclusive to the MacBook Air M3 as well. Which is… simply not true. Both of them have been available on older Macs with Apple silicon for quite some time and they work just fine, don’t worry.

Audio

At least the speakers on the newer MacBook Airs sound noticeably better than the M1 Air. From details to clarity and loudness, laptop speakers don’t get better than this. Except on Apple’s own larger MacBooks of course, but you know what I mean.

Keyboard and Trackpad

I don’t think I need to be talking about how great the keyboard and the trackpad on these things are either, right? It almost feels like beating a dead horse at this point, to be honest, but MacBooks have arguably the best keyboard and trackpad experience you could find on a laptop. Hands down.

And I absolutely love how Apple hasn’t tried to mess with tried-and-tested formula with each new model. After all, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Simple. The only thing different here is that the function row keys on the M2 and M3 MacBook Airs are full-height — unlike on the M1 Air — but that’s about it.

Performance

Alright, and that brings me to performance. Finally. So coming from M1 to M3, Apple’s sure made a lot of progress in terms of both, pure computational power and efficiency. And the recipe with each new chip has been almost predictable in a way. With more transistors, better manufacturing process, faster CPU, faster GPU, and so on.

And according to Apple, the M2 chip has an 18% faster CPU and a 35% faster GPU compared to the M1 chip. But Apple has been kinda weird with the performance numbers on the new M3 processor. Comparing it with M1 instead of M2 chip, and also really — I mean really — cherrypicking the benchmark numbers. Like saying how its CPU is up to 35% faster in certain applications and 65% faster graphics performance on certain games.

So it wasn’t surprising when I found that my synthetic benchmark runs didn’t exactly match — or come close to — Apple’s numbers on most occasions.

Starting with Cinebench 2024, which is a pretty good indicator of a system’s 3D rendering capabilities, the M2 Air scored around 10% more in single-core and a little over 12% higher in the multi-core CPU test. Whereas the M3 Air really started flexing its muscle with a towering 17% lead in single-core and roughly 10% better multi-core performance versus the already-impressive M2 chip.

This gives us a pretty good idea of that “raw CPU computational power” I was just talking about, but what you need to understand is that MacBook Airs aren’t built to be up for such demanding tasks in the first place.

Geekbench 6

That’s why I turned to testing the CPUs of these three machines with Geekbench 6, whose test cases are more in line with what a typical MacBook Air user might do.

Geekbench 6

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The results are still obviously and overwhelmingly in favor of the M3 Air — in both single-core and multi-core runs — but one interesting thing I found is that its CPU also gets the hottest of the three. Not to an alarming level or anything but that’s something you should know. And that temperature thing was all the same in Geekbench’s GPU test as well.

What’s… going on?

Although I really wasn’t expecting the M3 Air to pull ahead by a negligible 3% margin against the M2 Air here. So I ran Unigine’s Heaven benchmark next, which can be a useful indicator if you plan on running any app or game that uses OpenGL graphics API instead of Apple’s own Metal API.

Bu…t the M3 chip was once again not that impressive compared to its year-old sibling. With a 4% higher fps than the M2 Air, while the M2 Air managed almost 25% better fps than the M1 Air. Oh, and just so you know, all three MacBooks I have are base variants with 8 gigs of memory and 256 gigs of storage. Which also means my MacBook Air M1 has a 7-core GPU and the other two bring an 8-core GPU setup.

Code compiling, Video render test

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Next up, I ran a few real-life tests, including compiling a large codebase on Xcode and rendering a custom 4K video on Premiere Pro. And I gotta say the M3 Air was quite impressive here, finishing both tasks convincingly faster than the other two.

Gaming. gaming. gaming.

Apple has been quite serious about Mac gaming these days, right? So you know I had to play a few games here.

And while I don’t have much to say on relatively less demanding titles like Asphalt 9, the M3 chip’s upgraded GPU architecture really shines in AAA games like Resident Evil 4. With hardware-based mesh shading taking care of improving complex in-game scenes and dynamic caching for more efficient memory usage.

And I found that the M3 Air has mu…ch smoother gameplay and better average fps than the older MacBook Airs. Those fps numbers you’re seeing are with MetalFX upscaling enabled (which is Apple’s version of DLSS) but my point still stands.

Okay, okay, okay. What about casual, everyday performance then?

Do I even need to say anything there? I mean… it’s great.

If all you do is browse the web, run some Office applications, and stuff like that, you’re not gonna have a problem with either of them. Not even on the older M1 Air. Although I must say that the M3 Air feels just a tad more… responsive somehow. I can’t really put it into numbers but this is something I’ve noticed with things like opening a new Finder window or searching something on Spotlight for example.

Battery

The M3 Air’s battery can also last slightly longer but don’t get excited so fast. Apple promises up to 15 hours of web browsing on all three of them, and the M3 chip’s dedicated AV1 decoder could spice things up a little.

Without getting into too much detail, AV1 is basically a video codec — commonly used on platforms like YouTube and Netflix — that has better compression efficiency than other codecs like H.264, HEVC, and VP9. Meaning you’ll be able to stream higher-quality videos even with lower data speeds. And a dedicated AV1 decoder should technically make the streaming experience more power-efficient too.

Now, there’s no sure-shot way of knowing if a Netflix video is AV1 encoded so I looped a 1080p video on YouTube for an hour straight to see if that thing can actually work its magic or not. And… yep. Apple wasn’t lying. The M3 Air lost just 6% juice during this test, while the M1 and M2 Air spent 11% and 9% charge, respectively.

To be fair, my MacBook Air M1 isn’t at 100% battery health. So that number should be a little lower on a fresh new piece but yeah. If media consumption is most of what you do on a laptop, then you might end up with longer battery life on the M3 Air.

Apple MacBook Air M3 vs M2 vs M1 review: Conclusion

Alright, let me wrap things up now.

I’d just like to say — one more time — that all three of these are absolutely incredible laptops with the perfect blend of power, portability, and premiumness. And if you’re on a tight budget, then you simply can’t go wrong with the MacBook Air M1. You just can’t. At NPR 115,000 here in Nepal, I can confidently recommend this little thing even though it’s nearly four years old at this point.

Whereas it’s really the “M2 vs M3” battle I guess most of you guys are confused about.

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And based on everything I’ve discussed so far, it’s clear that the M3 MacBook Air is a rather lazy upgrade with not much of a difference over the M2 model. Except for the processor, of course. There’s that dual display thing I mentioned earlier, the M3 Air also supports the newer WiFi 6E standard, while Apple has used two NAND chips for faster read/write speeds on the M3 Air’s base variant as well.

SSD speed test

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So if you really want all those M3 goodies and everything else, the latest MacBook Air is a perfectly solid choice. It’s just that… you’re still only getting 8GB memory and 256GB storage for NPR 185,000. And sooner or later, that’s bound to be insufficient. Trust me.

Look for deals on MacBook Air M2 instead

The good news is that you can find the M2 MacBook Air at quite discounted prices these days. I’ve seen it listed for as low as NPR 155,000 for the starting configuration, which means you can actually double the memory or storage on the M2 Air by spending a little under NPR 200,000. My vote goes to memory upgrade since there’s always the option to use an external SSD for storage troubles, but you do you.

		M1 Air	M2 Air	M3 Air
Design, Build	10	9	9	9
Display	10	8	9	9
Keyboard	5	4.5	4.5	4.5
Trackpad	5	5	5	5
Performance	10	8	8.5	9
Audio	5	4	4.5	4.5
Webcam	5	3	4	4
Battery	10	9	9.5	9.5
Value for money	10	10	8.5	7
Total	70	60.5	62.5	61.5

MacBook Pro 16″ (2023) with M2 Pro, M2 Max chip Price in Nepal [Updated]

GadgetByte

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April 22, 2024

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MacBook Pro 16″ (2023) with M2 Pro, M2 Max chip Price in Nepal [Updated]

Apple announced the 2023 MacBook Pros and Mac Mini powered by the all-new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors back in March. Thanks to the chips, the new MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 bring improvement in performance and battery endurance. In this article, we will discuss the MacBook Pro 16 (2023) in more detail, including the specs, features, official price, and availability in Nepal.

MacBook Pro 16 (2023) Overview:

New Apple Silicon

The most significant upgrade on 2023’s MacBook Pro 16 is probably the inclusion of the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. These next-generation chips are the extension of the M2 chip. They are based on the same CPU architecture as the vanilla M2 but pack a higher number of CPU and GPU cores. For instance, the M2 Pro can have up to 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU. Likewise, it can be configured with up to 32GB of unified memory with double the bandwidth of the regular M2.

The M2 Max even builds on the M2 Pro with even better graphics processing and faster memory. It has the same 12-core CPU as the M2 Pro, but the GPU is reinforced with up to 38 cores. Moving on, it can be configured with up to 96GB of unified memory that boast a faster 400GB/s bandwidth.

Both the chips feature Apple’s new 16-core Neural engine, the latest image signal processor, and Secure Enclave.

Battery

Apple says the new MacBook Pros can maintain performance whether they are plugged in or not. Of the two, the new MacBook Pro 16 (2023) has better battery endurance. Apple has rated the 100WHr Lithium Polymer battery for up to 22 hours of video playback, which is one more hour than last year. This makes the new 16” MacBook Pro the MacBook with the longest battery life. The M2 Pro variants ship with a 140W USB-C power adapter and a USB-C to MagSafe cable for charging.

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Connectivity

You can find the MagSafe 3 magnetic charging port to the right of the MacBook Pro 16. It is placed alongside two Thunderbolt 4 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is an additional Thunderbolt 4 port on the left side, along with an HDMI and an SDXC card slot. The HDMI port is of the new 2.1 standards and thus allows up to 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 240Hz. You can use the Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI ports on the MacBook Pro 16 (2023) to connect to up to four external displays at a time. Likewise, Apple has upgraded the wireless connectivity to make the MacBook Pro compatible with Wi-Fi 6E networks.

Rest of the Specs

There is not much to talk about the design aspect of the new MacBook Pros. The new MacBook Pro 16 (2023) inherits the same form factor as its predecessor. Even the Liquid Retina XDR display has remained unchanged with 120Hz ProMotion and a notch for the 1080p FaceTime camera.

The audio setup is also the same, with Apple opting for the six-speaker system with tweeters and force-canceling woofers. There is even support for Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. You also get a Touch ID on the Magic Keyboard that you can use to unlock the MacBook Pro, sign in to apps and websites and make payments.

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch Specifications:

Dimension: 0.66H x 14.01W x 9.77D-inches, 2.15 kg (M2 Pro) / 2.16 kg (M2 Max)
Display: 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, mini-LED, 120Hz ProMotion, 1600 nits peak brightness, Wide Color (P3), 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio,
Resolution: 3456 x 2234 pixels (Close to 16:10 aspect ratio), 254 PPI
Chip: Apple M2 Pro / M2 Max (5nm)
CPU: 12-core (M2 Pro / M2 Max)
GPU: 19-core (M2 Pro), 38-core (M2 Max)
RAM: Up to 32GB (M2 Pro) / Up to 96GB (M2 Max)
Storage: Up to 8TB SSD
OS: macOS Ventura
Keyboard: Backlit Magic Keyboard
Webcam: 1080p FaceTime HD camera
Ports: 3x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, 1x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1x HDMI, 1x SDXC, 1x MagSafe 3
Connectivity: WiFi 6E 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, Bluetooth 5.3
Battery: 100Whr LiPo, 140W USB-C power adapter
Color Options: Space Grey, Silver
Read full specifications of the MacBook Pro 16 with M2 chips here.

Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) Price in Nepal and Availability

The price of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) in Nepal starts at NPR 370,000 for the M2 Pro variant with 16GB unified memory and 512GB SSD. And it goes all the way to NPR 586,000 for the M2 Max. You can buy an Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) in Nepal at its official price from authorized stores like Hukut.

Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023)	Price in Nepal	Availability
M2 Pro, 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD	NPR 370,000	Hukut Store
M2 Pro, 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 1TB SSD	NPR 380,000	~~Hukut Store~~ (Unavailable)
M2 Max, 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, 32GB unified memory, 1TB SSD	NPR 586,000	~~Hukut Store~~ (Unavailable)

Meanwhile, check out our review of the MacBook Pro M1 Pro.

Apple Macbook Pro 13 with M1 chip Price in Nepal [Updated]

GadgetByte

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April 22, 2024

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Apple Macbook Pro 13 with M1 chip Price in Nepal [Updated]

With the announcement of the new M2-based MacBook Pro, Apple has reduced the price of last year’s MacBook Pro M1 in Nepal. In this article, we will take a look at the specs, features, availability, and expected price of the Apple MacBook Pro M1 in Nepal.

Apple MacBook Pro 13 (M1) Overview:

M1 for Mac

The notable difference between 2020’s MacBook pro is the SoC it’s baked with. This year’s model introduced Apple’s M1 Silicon which is the company’s most powerful chip and the first one to be designed specifically for Mac. It is also the first mobile chip to be built using the 5nm process node. Apple has been able to fit 16 billion transistors in the chipset.

It is an octa-core processor with four high-performance and four high-efficiency cores. Apple claims that it offers the world’s best CPU performance per watt. The eight-core GPU can also execute 25,000 threads at the same time. As a result, Apple claims that it has the world’s fastest integrated graphics. The Neural Engine has 16 cores and is capable of doing 11 trillion operations per second. It provides up to 15x quicker machine learning performance with ML Accelerators.

Learn more about Apple’s switch from Intel’s x86 to Arm design

Apple has also optimized the macOS Big Sur to make the most out of the new chip. Most of Apple’s Mac Software is now universal and the rest can run on the M1 chip using Apple’s Rosetta 2 technology. Similarly, it can also run iPhone and iPad apps directly on a Mac.

Performance Leap

Powered by the new M1 silicon, Apple is claiming the new 13-inch MacBook Pro to be 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop. It is also claimed to be the world’s fastest compact pro notebook. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is now 2.8x times faster than its predecessor and offers up to 5x better graphics.

Meanwhile, check out all the prices and specs of MacBooks here

Design, Display

The new MacBook Pro has a 13.3-inch Retina display with P3 wide color. The touch bar remains just above the Magic Keyboard. Unlike the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro still features an active cooling system. It also comes with studio-quality mics. Moreover, the MacBook has an all-aluminium build and weighs 1.4kg. You can get it in gold, silver and space grey color variants.

Rest of the specs

Other features include Wi-Fi 6 support, Secure Enclave-powered Touch ID. It is available with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage. The port selection continues to be very slim with just two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports on the left side and a headphone jack on the right side.. Apple is claiming battery endurance of up to 20 hours.

MacBook Pro 13 (M1) Specifications:

Dimension: 0.61H x 11.97W x 8.36D-inches, 1.4kg
Display: 13.3-inch Retina IPS display; True Tone technology; P3 Wide Color; 500 nits
Resolution: 2560 x 1600 pixels; 16:10 aspect ratio
CPU: Apple M1 chip (5nm)
RAM: 8/16GB
Storage: up to 2TB SSD
OS: macOS Big Sur
Keyboard: Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar
Camera: 720p FaceTime HD camera
Ports: 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, 3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0
Battery: 58.2Whr LiPo Battey; 61W USB-C power adapter
Colour options: Space Grey and Silver

Apple MacBook Pro 13 M1 Price in Nepal

Apple MacBook Pro 13 with M1 chip is now unavailable in Nepal. You can previously buy the Apple M1 chip-powered MacBook Pro 13 from the Apple-authorized Hukut Store in Nepal but now they are almost impossible to come by. However, you can still check out our comprehensive list of Apple MacBook prices in Nepal to find information on current models and their costs.

Apple MacBook Pro 13 (M1) Model	Price in Nepal	Available at
8-core GPU, 8/16GB memory, 256/512GB	OUT OF STOCK	Hukut

Meanwhile, check out our unboxing of the new Apple MacBook Air M2.

AYANEO Pocket S powered by Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 coming soon!

Raizel Tandukar

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April 22, 2024

0

AYANEO Pocket S powered by Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 coming soon!

AYANEO, a Chinese handheld gaming computer manufacturer, is launching the — AYANEO Pocket S! Initially, the only information available about the upcoming handheld was that the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 will be powering it. But now, more details of the device have surfaced. Let’s discuss more about the AYANEO Pocket S, including its specifications, and expected price in Nepal.

AYANEO Pocket S Overview

About AYANEO

AYANEO was founded in 2020 with the philosophy “by real gamers, for other gamers”. We can figure out what the brand is about just by their philosophy alone. The brand produced devices running on Windows OS initially. Earlier this year, they stepped into Android handheld gaming with the AYANEO Pocket Air. Now they are taking another step with the AYANEO Pocket S!

Design and Display

The AYANEO Pocket S is a handheld gaming device and looks as such. It comes with a joystick on either side, arrow buttons on the left, ABXY buttons on the right, and hall triggers. The joysticks here also have a hall sensor along with RGB lighting. Other than that, it comes in a slim form factor of just 14 mm while featuring an all-metal CNC frame. The handheld will ship in Black and White colours.

On the front, it comes with high-definition glass covering the borderless mirror screen. The AYANEO Pocket S has an IPS panel underneath stretching 6 inches and spanning 2K in resolution. Previously, the screen was said to boast a high refresh rate of 144 FPS, which needs further confirmation.