The baffling launch of the Ayaneo Pocket Micro 2

If you blinked, you missed it

After spending almost two weeks building up the reveal of the Pocket Micro 2, Ayaneo’s latest device sold out within the first few minutes of its release, while the official reveal livestream was still airing. When I checked the official Discord server to see if I could get an update on when the company would manufacture the next batch, I found this.

^{Source: Ayaneo’s Discord}

So why in the world is the Pocket Micro 2 so popular all of a sudden, and how the hell did we get here?

The Pocket Micro 2 is peak Ayaneo design

^{Source: Ayaneo’s X page}

If you look at the Pocket Micro 2 in a vacuum, you can tell the design is a home run. The 3.5-inch 3:2 LCD display offers 4x integer scaling for GBA games, the joysticks are recessed, and it packs a Snapdragon 865 processor and a 3950 mAh battery in a very sleek, pocketable device. As one would expect, the Pocket Micro 2 addresses the major flaws and shortcomings of its predecessor, and is a clear step up in every way.

Having a Snapdragon 865 in a compact form factor like this obviously resonated with a lot of people. Well, I don’t know about a lot, but it certainly resonated with more than 110 people. Why such an oddly specific number? That’s because Ayaneo only allocated 110 Pocket Micro 2s to the international market. Yes, you read that number correctly, and no, I did not forget any zeros.

^{Screenshots from Ayaneo’s official Discord}

It turns out that Ayaneo had only made around 1,000 Micro 2s to begin with, domestic demand was higher than the company anticipated, and this left only 110 units available for purchase outside of China. While this added context helps it make a bit more sense, 1,000 units still seemed like a criminally low number for Ayaneo to make (see chart below).

At this point I started to do a little bit of digging to see if I could find any sales numbers for Ayaneo. What I could find were the number of people who backed various Ayaneo devices on Indiegogo, enough data to paint a picture of just how small the company, and this hobby, actually is.

Ayaneo IGG numbers

^{Source: Ayaneo’s Indiegogo}

The first Pocket Micro only had 962 backers during its initial Indiegogo campaign. That’s not a lot by any stretch of the imagination, and plenty of other Ayaneo devices had fewer backers than that. Sure, these Indiegogo campaigns only ran for a month or two and don’t include domestic sales or sales on Ayaneo’s website, but that 1,000 unit production run for the Micro 2 doesn’t look too crazy when you see how many people have actually backed previous devices. I figure Ayaneo was expecting the Micro 2 to do worse than the first Micro and didn’t want to make more than necessary.

The ad campaign continues

^{Source: Ayaneo’s YouTube channel}

Even though the Micro 2 sold out within minutes of its launch, Ayaneo still put up six videos on its YouTube channel showcasing the handheld. These could have been scheduled videos, but even if that were the case, why post six of them when the device is sold out, especially if there are no plans to produce any more devices?

There have also been several review videos by various content creators who attended an event in China and received free review samples from Ayaneo. In their defense, they had no idea that there were only 1,000 units and that they’d sell out within minutes, but it still feels like pouring salt in the wound when you see videos of people gushing over a device that’s not even being sold.

The demand is there, but so are production hurdles

Shortly after the expected backlash from the general public, and even die-hard Ayaneo fans on the official Discord, Ayaneo opened a sign-up page to see if there’s enough interest to meet the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for another production run. Although it never promoted the link in its Micro 2 videos or social media posts, Ayaneo confirmed there was enough demand to produce more units, but the company still has to coordinate with manufacturers to secure parts and determine whether it can be done at a reasonable price.

And with the never-ending price increases on RAM and storage across the industry, I wouldn’t expect the next batch of Micro 2s to be the $239 – $309 price range that the first batch was. I’m not sure how much it’ll end up costing, but I’m hoping it will be less than the $440+ that Aliexpress resellers are currently asking.

There are no brakes on the Ayaneo train

^{Source: Ayaneo’s X account}

Even amid the midst of the Micro 2 shortage, Ayaneo is still teasing a new device for its more affordable Konkr line, alongside a new Windows handheld. I do realize that Ayaneo has to make hardware in order to make money and stay in business, but it definitely seems like the company is spreading itself too thin. At the very least, Ayaneo should address the Micro 2 shortage before moving on to new devices. Announcing fresh new handhelds when you can’t even keep up with the demand for the current ones doesn’t inspire confidence among most consumers.

No comment

Instead of hastily jumping on the Ayaneo hate bandwagon to write about the disastrous Micro 2 launch as soon as it happened, I decided to hold off and reach out to Ayaneo. I’d wanted to get some insight into why the Micro 2 launch was handled the way it was, why the Pocket Air Mini was launched under the Ayaneo brand instead of the budget-friendly Konkr brand, and what the logic behind its decisions is in general.

My co-worker Daniel Allen interviewed Ayaneo’s CEO, Arthur Zhang, back in 2024. I have gone through the article multiple times, and as someone who has owned multiple Ayaneo devices, I completely understand the appeal of its high-quality builds and design language, but I often find myself confused by many of the company’s choices, and I know that I’m not alone either.

A lot has changed since that 2024 interview, and many of us in the West would like to understand the thought process behind Ayaneo’s sometimes head-scratching decisions.

I have contacted Ayaneo via Discord, its marketing email, and its X account, but have yet to hear back.