The future of handheld gaming isn't from Nintendo or Valve

While Valve has been gradually establishing a new category of PC gaming with its Steam Deck, Chinese company Ayaneo has been quietly getting on with crafting some of the best gaming handhelds around.

It has regularly released premium PC-based devices with specifications that make even the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go look underpowered, but mostly under the radar. That could be about to change though, we feel – the Ayaneo Slide is a luxury device that is sure to turn some heads.

There has been a lot of talk about the Nintendo Switch 2 of late, with its PS4-standard capabilities and possible ray tracing tech, but  you may very well not care when the Slide's pre-orders open soon.

It's also been said that the Steam Deck 2 is not a concern right now, with Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais revealing that it's at least two years away.

What's more, not only will the Ayaneo Slide be available sooner, its specs and details have been revealed already.

Pre-orders will be taken on Indiegogo when the device is launched fully, and the page states that the Slide will come with a 6-inch 1080p "floating screen". That's because, as well as all the other control gubbins associated with a gaming handheld, it can "slide" up to reveal a full working keyboard.

Yep, it's the T-Mobile Sidekick for gamers you never knew you wanted. But after seeing the pics and video, like us you probably now do.

The other specs and features are impressive: it's driven by the AMD Ryzen 7 784OU chipset and powered by a 45.63Wh battery. The touchscreen has a brightness of 400 nits

There are stereo speakers, an X-axis linear motor and 6-axis gyroscope, plus, importantly, Hall sensing joystick and trigger controls, which are designed to eliminate stick drift.

The device also features custom designed heat dissipation, two USB-C ports, SSD storage and a "high speed" microSD card slot.

It will run on the brand's own operating system, Ayaspace 2, which is overlayed onto Windows 11 and allows you to import your games libraries from other services, such as Steam.

You can see more on the official launch video for the device.

We don't yet have pricing or availability details, but considering the brand's popular Ayaneo 2 starts at over $1K – without the keyboard – we doubt it'll come cheap.

We'll let you know when we get more info. It's certainly something we have our eyes on.