The Retroid Pocket 6 is now up for pre-order following the Android handheld’s controversial reveal

Last week, we reported on the news that the Retroid Pocket 6, a new Android gaming handheld, was official. Then, following backlash surrounding the design of the device, we scurried to follow up the news with clarification that the listing for the device had disappeared from the brand’s official site. Now, following some social media market research from Retroid, the Pocket 6 is back, with a fresh design and a pre-order date. Are you keeping up? Good, me neither.

Despite the big reveal fiasco, the Retroid Pocket 6 looks like a pretty impressive potential future pick for our guide to the best retro handhelds, potentially replacing last year’s Pocket 5. The new Android handheld boasts a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which should make it plenty powerful enough to run your favorite mobile games, a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, and a bumper 6,000mAh battery. Considering it’s launching at $229, that’s some pretty impressive value for money from the spec sheet.

The difference between the new Pocket 6 design and the original is that the revamped model’s analog stick is above the d-pad, rather than below, and the row of buttons under the device’s display has gone. Personally, I didn’t mind the buttons under the screen, but I do think it’s the right call to swap around the placement of the d-pad and the left-sided analog stick. Outside of those two adjustments and the green colorway mysteriously disappearing from the product listing, there’s nothing to separate the original design from the adjusted mode.

In terms of pre-orders, you can now pick up your preferred version of the Pocket 6 from the official Retroid site, but you’ll be waiting a while to get your hands on it, with shipping not kicking off until January 2026. There is a benefit to being an early bird, though, netting you a $20 discount on the $229 price point, so if you think you’re going to pick one up eventually, you might be better off ordering sooner rather than later.

As ever, we’ll be keen to get our hands on the new Retroid Pocket 6 to see how much of an improvement it is on the Pocket 5 and how it compares to the top picks from our guide to the best handheld consoles. If you’re looking for more top-tier tech, though, be sure to check out our list of the best gaming phones, which includes a bunch of options to suit all budgets.