Anbernic reveals the RG DDS, a 3DS-style clamshell with two 500-nit screens and a Snapdragon G2 Gen 2

Anbernic's new flagship has screens at three times the 3DS's resolutions, a fan and a 6000mAh battery. No official price or date yet; a company representative floated about $300 for 8GB.

AI-drafted from 3 sources. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.

Anbernic announced the RG DDS on 9 October, and the letters stand for Dream Dual-Screen. It is a clamshell handheld that borrows the shape of the New Nintendo 3DS family, and the company's first-look post calls it its new flagship handheld. Black, white and blue versions appear in the announcement.

Screens sized for 3DS games

The upper display is an IPS panel of about 4.7 inches with a 5:3 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1200 by 720. The lower one is about 4 inches, 4:3, at 960 by 720. Both are custom panels at 300 pixels per inch and a specified 500 nits. Anbernic says each screen triples the width and height of its original 3DS counterpart while keeping the same shape, and that colour, brightness, refresh rate and materials are matched across the two.

As The Gadgeteer explains, that maps to the 3DS's source resolutions of 400 by 240 for the top screen and 320 by 240 for the bottom, so software can draw each original pixel as an even three-by-three block. Glasses-free 3D is not advertised.

Inside

The chip is Qualcomm's Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, which Anbernic says it chose for efficiency and compatibility. There is a fan for active cooling and a 6000mAh battery, up from 4000mAh in the RG DS Plus according to The Gadgeteer. Controls are two analogue sticks, a D-pad and four face buttons around the lower screen, with front-facing stereo speakers, a new Z-axis linear vibration motor, dual alloy friction hinges and a retractable stylus built into the body. A redesigned control centre handles performance, cooling, brightness, volume and dual-screen settings.

That is a step up from Anbernic's earlier dual-screen models. The RG DS Plus uses a Rockchip RK3568 with two 4.3-inch displays. The Gadgeteer also spotted a dedicated AI button in the announcement, which Anbernic has not explained.

Price still unconfirmed

Anbernic's post gives no price, release date, operating system, RAM or storage. Retro Handhelds reports that a Control Center screenshot shows 7.20GB of RAM in use, which points to at least 8GB, and that an Anbernic representative, Wild Lee, said on the site's Discord that the handheld would be "300ish with 8GB." The site treats that as an indication rather than a confirmed price, and it could change before launch.

The Gadgeteer adds a fair caution: the new chip should give more headroom than the older models, but how well it actually runs 3DS emulation has not been shown yet.

Sources

Image: Anbernic

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