Why Ayaneo Hit Pause
A handheld with a 115 Wh battery and twin NVMe slots should have been Ayaneo’s biggest flex yet. Instead, the company has suspended pre-orders for the Next 2 after storage costs pushed total build prices to near double the launch target.
In a detailed post on its Indiegogo page, Ayaneo said it launched the Next 2 under pressure but with optimism that storage pricing was peaking. "When we launched Next 2, storage prices were already at a very high level," the company wrote. "At that time, we were already under significant cost pressure." Even so, it "decided to release it as planned and open pre-orders so as not to disappoint" fans who had been waiting.
Those hopes didn’t hold. After the Chinese New Year, Ayaneo says supplier quotes showed storage costs had jumped "several times higher than before the holiday." The impact was immediate and severe: "Under such circumstances, the overall cost of the product has become far higher than our current selling price," the statement reads.
Costs didn’t just creep up—they surged. The company says the "total cost of the product has far exceeded our selling price, even approaching twice the price we originally set." The conclusion was blunt: "Continuing to sell this product is no longer sustainable."
What Happens to Existing Orders
Ayaneo stressed that production will continue for customers who already pre-ordered. The pause applies to new orders only, and the company framed the move as temporary rather than a cancellation. "If storage prices return to more reasonable levels in the future, we may consider resuming the sale of Next 2," it said. It also added that after-sales service support won’t be affected.
That’s a small relief for early backers expecting a powerhouse handheld. The Next 2 was pitched as a Strix Halo–powered device with options for high-capacity memory configurations, twin NVMe drives, and a massive 115 Wh battery—an ambitious spec sheet aimed at rivals beyond the handheld space. In raw ambition, it reads more like a compact gaming laptop.
A Spec Sheet That Rivaled Laptops
Ayaneo wasn’t shy about the Next 2’s goals. Pairing an advanced AMD platform with serious storage throughput and desktop-adjacent RAM options, the device promised performance headroom rarely seen in this category. That hardware comes with real cost exposure, though. When NAND and DRAM prices spike, products built around multiple high-density modules get hit the hardest.
Ayaneo’s own timeline underscores that risk. The company says storage prices had been rising for months before launch, but it believed a peak was near. It forged ahead, even if it meant "making little to no profit—or even a slight loss" at first. The unexpected post-holiday surge broke that plan, tipping the economics from tight to untenable in a matter of weeks.
The Bigger Market Squeeze
This isn’t an isolated problem. The company points to a broader "memory and storage supply crisis" that’s been roiling PC components for much of the past year. Industry chatter aligns with Ayaneo’s experience: DRAM makers are racing to expand capacity for AI server demand, but building out fabs and supply chains takes time.
Estimates about relief vary, and many expect 2026 to remain challenging, with 2027 likely still elevated. That leaves high-spec handhelds particularly exposed, especially models configured with large SSDs and high-density RAM that can swing the bill of materials by hundreds of dollars when markets tighten.
What It Means for Handheld Buyers
For anyone eyeing a portable PC with serious grunt, this pause is a reality check. Premium handhelds depend on the same commodity parts hammered by data center demand, and even a well-funded boutique maker can’t absorb costs that jump to "approaching twice" the original plan.
On the upside, Ayaneo’s communication has been unusually clear for a crowdfunding-era hardware launch. Fans with existing pre-orders should still receive units, and support remains in place. If storage pricing cools, the Next 2 could return with the same wild spec sheet that turned heads the first time.
Will that happen soon? Don’t bet on it. Until memory and storage markets settle, expect more conservative configurations and fewer moonshot handhelds. If Ayaneo can ride out the crunch and relaunch when prices normalize, the Next 2 might yet become the flagship it was built to be—just on a longer runway than anyone wanted.
