Less than half a year after launching the AYA Neo 2 and AYA Neo Geek handheld gaming PCs with AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processors, AYA has unveiled plans for upgraded models powered by Ryzen 7 7000U series chips (although I wouldn’t be surprised if the company actually ends up using AMD’s new Z1 series processors, which are designed for handhelds).

For the most part the upcoming AYA Neo 2S and AYA Neo Geek 1S will be nearly identical to the models you can already buy. But AYA says the new models will feature the latest AMD chips with Zen 4 CPU cores, RDNA 3 graphics, and updated cooling systems with improved airflow and heat dissipation. Update (5-30-2023): The AYA Neo 2S and Geek 1S are up for pre-order through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and they should begin shipping to backers in June and July, respectively. 

The company says these are still fairly minor upgrades that didn’t require new case molds. In fact the new models are so similar that AYA even plans to sell mainboard upgrade kits to customers who’d like to effectively turn an AYA Neo 2 into a 2S.

That said, it does seem likely that the new models could be a little more expensive – AYA says it will continue to sell handhelds with Ryzen 7 6800U processors even as it introduces new Ryzen 7000U models. It makes sense for the company to try to at least move any remaining inventory, but it also doesn’t make much sense for customers to buy the slower version unless it’s cheaper.

Crowdfunding campaigns for the AYA Neo 2S and AYA Neo Geek 1S are expected to begin in mid-May, and units could begin shipping to backers by late June. The mainboard upgrade option won’t be available during that campaign though, so customers who want to upgrade their existing handhelds to the new processors will have to wait a bit longer.

But AYA already has a product page for another upgrade option: Customers who want improved thermal performance for an existing AYA Neo 2 or Geek will be able to request a free Heat Dissipation Upgrade Kit that includes an improved heat sink with three copper tubes and a graphene patch, effectively bringing the same cooling system used in the upcoming S series handhelds to the previous-gen models.

If I’m reading the company’s marketing materials properly, customers in China will be able to request a kit to perform their own upgrades or pay to ship their systems to AYA, where the company will upgrade the heat sinks and send them back. But I believe customers outside of China will have to order a self-service kit.

Both handhelds are expected to feature 7 inch displays, at least 16GB of RAM, user-upgradeable PCIe NVME SSDs, and built-in game controllers.

But the entry-level AYA Neo Geek 1S is designed to be a cheaper alternative to the 2S. Entry-level models of the Geek series have 1280 x 800 pixel displays, for example, while all versions of the AYA Neo 2/2S have 1920 x 1200 pixel displays. The AYA Neo 2S also has faster storage, a better fingerprint sensor, dual gyroscopes, and a few other advanced features to help set it apart.

Like the first-generation products, the new AYA Neo 2S and Geek 1S are expected to have 50.25 Wh batteries, hall sensors for the trigger and joysticks, three USB Type-C ports (including two with USB4 capabilities), microSD card readers, and support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

The handhelds will ship with Windows 11.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,544 other subscribers

Join the Conversation

5 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Are the upgrade kits essentially repair kits, and not so much for spec upgrades? That’s what they appear to be.

    1. As best I can tell, these are upgrade kits. The new models are said to have better cooling than the originals, and these kits will let Neo 2/Geek owners upgrade the cooling system without buying a whole new handheld.

      1. Oh, right. For the heat dissipation kit, the upgrade benefit has been said. I was thinking mostly about the speakers. Is there any further info on that kit, and what it upgrades to? I did a cursory search online and there wasn’t anything from Aya.

        1. Oops, I realized I’m asking about a different model from the same brand. The speaker kit is for Neo Air, which you bring up in a different article.

          1. No worries, I was a bit confused about that too 🙂

            All I know is there’s an “upgrade kit” for the speakers. And given that they announced it at the same time as the Heat Dissipation Kit, I’m guessing that it is similarly a true upgrade.

            It would be kind of weird to offer a repair kit for just the speakers for just that model unless there was an improvement (or a defect in the originals).

            But until they post more info on their update (or a Chinese speaker watches the video of today’s livestream and lets me know what I missed), it’s kind of hard to know for sure.