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It’s been a rough few weeks for retro handheld buyers watching prices. Retroid has been hit hard by the ongoing global memory shortage, and the latest round of changes landed late on March 16th: the Retroid Pocket G2 has been discontinued, and the Retroid Pocket Classic is getting a $20 price increase to $149. Meanwhile, Anbernic is teasing something genuinely unexpected — a rotating-screen Android handheld that nobody saw coming.
Retroid Pocket G2 Discontinued — Effective Immediately
As of March 16, 2026, the Retroid Pocket G2 is gone. Retroid posted the announcement and within minutes the listing page showed “Sold Out” — meaning any remaining stock cleared essentially instantly once word got out.
The G2 launched last year alongside the Retroid Pocket 6, and it was always an awkward fit in Retroid’s lineup. It used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 chip (derived from the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3) and offered notably better sustained GPU performance than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 found in the RP5. But the problem: it shared almost the exact same shell and display as the RP5, and the two were priced just a few dollars apart. Most buyers who looked at both ended up going with the RP5 for platform maturity, or stepping up to the RP6 for outright power.
Retroid confirmed the G2 is “temporarily discontinued,” leaving the door open for a return — but given the memory market pressures behind the move, don’t hold your breath.
Retroid Pocket Classic Now $149 — Retroid’s Full Lineup Repriced
The Retroid Pocket Classic — Retroid’s compact, budget-friendly entry with a 4:3 screen and Android 13 — now starts at $149 for the 6GB/128GB model, up from $129. That’s a $20 increase, effective March 16.
Worth noting: only two colorways (Classic 6 and Classic 6 SG) are currently available directly from Retroid. All other color variants are sold out. Third-party retailers like Ampown may have other colors but expect a premium.
Here’s what the current Retroid lineup looks like as of this writing:
| Device | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Retroid Pocket 6 | $244 | Available (2nd batch shipping) |
| Retroid Pocket 5 | $199 | Available — unaffected |
| Retroid Pocket Flip 2 | $179 (D1100) / $209 (SD865) | Available |
| Retroid Pocket Classic | $149 | Limited colors available |
| Retroid Pocket G2 | — | Discontinued |
This comes just weeks after Retroid discontinued the 12GB RP6 model and raised prices on the 8GB version. The memory crisis is squeezing the entire handheld market — AYN also raised prices on its Odin 3 and Thor handhelds around the same time and paused the Odin 3 Ultra.
If you’re in the market for a Retroid device right now, the RP5 at $199 remains the most stable option and Retroid explicitly confirmed it “will continue to be available and is not affected.”
Anbernic Teases a Rotating-Screen Android Handheld
On a more intriguing note: Anbernic appears to be developing something completely different. A video surfaced on r/SBCGaming showing an unannounced Android handheld with a rotating touchscreen display. The device looks like a square-ish tablet with no visible controls — until the edge of the display is pushed sideways, flipping it vertically to reveal a full ABXY/D-pad button layout underneath.
The Anbernic logo is visible on both the bottom and back of the device. The video also briefly shows what looks like an alternative shell or case design before panning to office workers, presumably at Anbernic, working on other form factors.
It’s a genuinely unusual design concept — reminiscent of early 2010s flip-and-twist phones like the Nokia 7705 Twist and Motorola Flipout, but reimagined as a gaming handheld. Whether this makes it to retail is anyone’s guess, but it suggests Anbernic is actively experimenting beyond the RG35XX/RG40XX horizontal-device formula they’ve been iterating on heavily.
No specs, pricing, or release window have been announced. We’ll cover it as details emerge.
What This Means for Buyers Right Now
The pattern is clear: the global memory shortage is reshaping the affordable handheld market in real time. Devices that were $129 are now $149. Planned models are being axed before launch. Budget options are getting scarcer.
If you’ve been sitting on a purchase decision, the advice is straightforward: prices are not likely to go down anytime soon. The Retroid Pocket Classic at $149 and the RP5 at $199 are still competitive for what they deliver — but the window for “great value” keeps narrowing with each announcement.
On the Anbernic side, the RG VITA and RG VITA Pro are still incoming with no confirmed on-sale date. The rotating-screen tease suggests Anbernic has even more in the pipeline for the rest of 2026. This year is shaping up to be more eventful than it first appeared.
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