AYN’s 3DS-style Thor handheld is facing another price hike

The Android-powered AYN Thor gaming handheld is going up in price — once more. Following its final price bump earlier this yr, AYN has introduced that it expects its Nintendo 3DS-style machine will improve in price beginning in April, although it didn’t say by how a lot.

AYN shared on its Discord that as a consequence of AI-driven RAM and storage value will increase, “we might anticipate a price adjustment” for Thor orders positioned beginning in April. The put up says that the particular price improve will depend upon the price it’s paying for elements by then.

The AYN Thor has been promoting in batches, with pre-orders presently open for the third wave of manufacturing. Proper now, costs vary from $249 for the lowest-end mannequin that comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, eight gigs of RAM, and 128 gigs of storage, all the best way as much as $449 for a model powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 16 gigs of RAM, together with a terabyte of storage.

Makers of shopper electronics are facing elevated part prices pushed predominantly by the AI business. The info facilities that energy cloud-based AI software program require a lot of RAM and storage elements; producers of these elements have restricted manufacturing capability, and elevated demand has led to larger prices for makers of gadgets like smartphones and gaming handhelds. These prices are sometimes handed on to customers.

Orders for the fourth batch of Thor handhelds open on March 1, forward of AYN’s deliberate price will increase. Should you’re occupied with selecting one up, you may be capable of save a couple of dollars by ordering prior to later.