Retroid Pocket 5 Just Stole The Show
Retroid has won the week with the announcement of its next flagship device, including one color that evokes all the Game Cube feels.
Hot on the heels of its Retroid Pocket Mini announcement, Retroid has won the week in the retro gaming handheld community with the announcement of its next flagship device: the Retroid Pocket 5.
Full specs and pricing are set to be revealed this coming week, but thanks to the company’s social media campaign we actually know a good bit about the new device, which looks to be more powerful and more premium than the popular RP4 — which arrived in January of this year. The RP5 will have a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen, at 1080p high definition and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Retroid has also confirmed that the Retroid Pocket Mini will be the companion to this device (like the RP4 got “Pro” and “Base” models released around the same time). The Mini will come with a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen (with a 4:3 resolution), and Retroid this week hinted at a Snapdragon chip powering the internals. Depending on which chip the company puts in these devices, the fifth-generation Retroid Pocket might compete with the likes of the AYN Odin.
UPDATE (9/3): Retroid has confirmed that both the RP5 and the RP Mini will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 processor. This puts the devices in the ballpark of the RP4 Pro’s Dimensity 1100, and between the Odin and Odin 2 in terms of raw emulation power.
What does that mean for performance? AYN’s 2022 Odin came with a Snapdragon 845 with an active cooling fan to boost the chip’s performance, allowing the device to emulate a solid amount of PS2, Game Cube, and Wii titles. Last year’s Odin 2 (and this year’s Odin2 Mini) upgraded to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which has the power to crush most emulation tasks on Android — PS2, Game Cube, Wii, and even Nintendo Switch. With this much power most of the performance limitations fall on the development of emulation software.
The first renders of the Retroid Pocket 5 also showcase its glass face (familiar from some AYANEO devices), stacked shoulder buttons and triggers, front-firing speakers, and RGB lights around the analog thumb sticks. The company has confirmed that it will have rear bumps to improve the ergonomics, with four different transparent shells available for DIY swapping: transparent white, black, blue, and green.
The out-of-the-box device colors (check out the first image above) will include black, white, a Super Famicom color scheme (4-color buttons with dark gray D-pad and sticks), and the real show-stopper: an indigo edition with wonderfully GameCube color choices including a red A button, green B button, and yellow right analog thumbstick. Shut up and take our money!
While we wait for Retroid to pull back the curtain this week on the complete specs, the price, and the release timing, the inclusion of a Snapdragon processor in the Mini does carry one implication for the next generation Retroid device: the company could be targeting a higher tier of price and performance. The RP4 Pro already competes with the 2022 Odin, thanks to its Dimensity 1100 processor, and it’s not likely that the RP5 will be weaker than its predecessor. That suggests a more powerful chip to compete with the Odin 2 devices, which retail from $299 to $459.
Stick with Retro Dock for more on the new Retroid devices as info becomes available, and follow us on Twitter for the latest!
