Anbernic’s sliding screen handheld might be too chunky and heavy for your pockets

Anbernic hasn’t officially released or even put its new RG Slide handheld up for preorder yet, but a handful of reviewers have recently shared their first impressions of the new console. Anbernic may be leaning a bit too far into novelty and nostalgia with the RG Slide’s design, while not actually capitalizing on what made devices like the light and compact PSP Go and Xperia Play smartphone so fondly remembered.

The RG Slide will be priced at $189 and is expected to go on sale starting on June 20th, 2025, according to RetroDodo. It’s powered by an octa-core Unisoc Tiger T820 CPU, which is a processor Anbernic already uses in its higher-end handhelds like the RG Cube that can emulate most games from the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube era. That’s paired with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a microSD card slot, and a 5,000mAh rechargeable battery that’s estimated to power the console for up to six hours between charges.

Retro Dodo liked the RG Slide’s 4.7-inch, 1280 x 960 pixel resolution screen and found it makes “retro consoles such as GameCube, Dreamcast, and PS2 look slightly more vivid in comparison to previous Anberic products.” It also found the console’s sliding mechanism to be satisfyingly solid, but lamented the loud “clack” it makes when opening or closing the device.

The console’s controls are as good as what’s found on other Anbernic devices and seem reasonably comfortable and well-balanced, but not quite as ergonomic as other handhelds. 

Both Retro Dodo and Russ Crandall, who runs Retro Game Corps, feel that Anbernic missed the mark when it comes to the RG Slide’s size, which feels too large and thick to be comfortably pocketable. It also weighs 380 grams, which is just shy of the original Nintendo Switch that weighed 390 grams and much heavier than the 158-gram PSP Go.