Retroid’s next handheld will have a 4nm Snapdragon chipset

Retroid’s slow drip of information about its upcoming spring releases continues, and this time, we’re getting the specs for the new vertical Pocket Classic. The company stopped short of revealing the exact chipset the handheld will use, but based on what we know, there are only a few logical options.

The big news is that Retroid will use a 4nm Qualcomm chip for the first time. This became the standard for new silicon in the past three or four years, with only the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite switching to a 3nm process. Regardless, there are now midrange 4nm chips that make sense for a device like the Pocket Classic.

The most likely option is the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2. This midrange chipset was made to bring 5G to budget smartphones, but it’s the closest match for the Wi-Fi 5 and BT 5.0 listed in the spec sheet. Considering it’s one of the cheapest 4nm chips Qualcomm makes, it would also fit with the other budget-oriented specs on the device. For example, Retroid hasn’t used eMMC 5.1 storage since 2023, instead favoring much faster UFS 3.1 storage.

Other possibilities include the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and above, offering more performance but commanding a higher price tag. The 6 Gen 1 is closer to the Snapdragon 865 found in the flagship Retroid Pocket 5, and it could push the price well above $150. That extra power would be useful for Sega Saturn emulation, which the six-button model seems optimized for.

It’s also worth pointing out that both chips have capabilities beyond Wi-Fi 5 and BT 5.0. Product designers can choose not to implement everything a chip is capable of, although it’s a strange omission considering every other Retroid device from the past two years offers better support.

Regardless of which Qualcomm 4nm chipset the Pocket Classic ships with, Retroid will be in uncharted territory. These midrange chipsets haven’t been tested in retro gaming handhelds, so it will be interesting to see how they compare to other budget-focused handhelds like the TrimUI Brick, most of which run Linux.

The Retroid Pocket Flip 2, which will launch around the same time as the Pocket Classic, has two different models, one with a Dimensity 1100 and one with a Snapdragon 865. Both have been used previously in the Pocket 4 Pro and Pocket Mini/5, so we know what level of performance they can handle.

The overall specs of the Pocket Classic seem to indicate a budget-focused device for emulating older consoles and handhelds, which makes sense, considering there are no joysticks. The screen, however, is one of the most premium AMOLED panels of its size, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what price range to expect. With the rate Retroid has been releasing news, we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out.