The RG 55G1 comes in three colors and starts at $150.
Anbernic appears to be gradually recreating Nintendo’s legendary portfolio of gaming handhelds, with the latest being a remake of the Switch Lite. Anbernic revealed the RG 55G1 and its spec sheet in June, but has now revealed the release date and price range for its horizontal handheld, even cheaper than Nintendo’s budget device. The RG 55G1 will be available for order on August 31, starting at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT.
Although it looks a lot like the Switch Lite, the RG 55G1 runs Android 14 and is designed to emulate retro games. More surprisingly, Anbernic opted for the Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 chip, marking the first time the handheld maker has used Qualcomm hardware for its handhelds. With exactly the same processor as the Retroid Pocket Classic, the RG 55G1 should handle emulation of PS2 or Wii games. Like the Switch Lite, Anbernic has opted for a 5.5-inch screen, but with a higher resolution of 1920 x 1080. However, the RG 55G1 differentiates itself with two symmetrical Hall effect joysticks and a battery life of up to eight hours.
Those interested will have the choice between black, indigo and retro gray colors, but also the choice between a model with 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of storage or a model with 8 GB of memory and 128 GB of storage. The RG 55G1 has a starting retail price of $150, but can cost up to $225 for the high-end model that comes with an additional 256GB microSD card. Anbernic is also running a $10 promotion for the first three days the RG 55G1 is on sale.
