Today, gaming handheld company AYANEO announced that it is no longer producing the Nintendo DS-like AYANEO Flip DS with its dual-screen design and the Flip KB with its full keyboard.
An official announcement on the AYANEO Flip Indiegogo page reads:
"After careful consideration and evaluation of our product roadmap and strategic priorities, we regret to announce that **there are currently no immediate plans to proceed with the production of the AYANEO FLIP**. This decision was not made lightly, but we believe it is necessary to ensure we focus on delivering exceptional experiences through our existing and upcoming product lines."
This is surprising given that the Windows 11-toting Flip DS line was successfully crowdfunded on Indiegogo last year, pulling in $867,542 from backers.
As such, if you backed the Flip DS and haven't received your handheld yet, you will not be receiving one.
I personally did our AYANEO Flip DS review and gave it four out of five stars while pointing out its many perks and a couple of tradeoffs.
It offered unique features that I haven't seen in any other handheld, so it's sad to see that production has stopped.
The company goes on to say:
"We understand this news may come as a disappointment, and we take full responsibility for any frustration caused. Our team is committed to supporting every backer through this transition. While the FLIP project is paused indefinitely, we remain dedicated to pushing boundaries in handheld gaming technology, and your feedback will continue to shape our future endeavors."
My first thought upon hearing that the Flip DS and Flip KB are not longer getting produced made me wonder if AYANEO was in trouble.
However, the fact that the company will use feedback to "continue to shape our future endeavors" indicates that AYANEO is still planning to release additional devices.
AYANEO Flip refund options
AYANEO is giving full refunds for Flip backers who have not received their handhelds.
Alternatively, unfulfilled backers can request a product exchange "to any equivalent AYANEO product currently available (price differences, if applicable, will be settled accordingly)."
To start this refund process, you'll want to email service@ayaneo.com within 30 days.
When I sent a message to this email, I got an immediate reply that told me, "If you did not receive a response from customer service after 3 days or your email is being rejected by our email server, message us through the Live chat on our website."
As such, if you are one of the backers requesting a refund, make sure to check your email and use the Livechat feature if you don't get a personal email response in the next few days. Otherwise, you might not get your refund.
It seems that there are no refund or exchange options available for backers who already received a Flip handheld.
But why is AYANEO Flip production halting?
I'm dying of curiosity to understand why AYANEO decided to indefinitely pause Flip DS and Flip KB production.
After all, the Flip Indiegogo campaign pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars, so it's not like it wasn't successful.
If anything, this makes me wonder if there was a production issue, design flaw, or legal problem that the company ran into.
If you're familiar with AYANEO, then you know that this company historically busts out several handhelds every year. I wonder if this is the problem.
Perhaps the company spread its production too thin by offering too many models.
Offering a clamshell-design handheld with a dual-screen or keyboard is more niche than the usual handheld designs seen in the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, ROG Ally, and Legion Go.
Maybe the company just decided there wasn't enough demand to justify keeping this handheld line in production.
Alternatively, maybe the handheld was too costly production-wise and led to a lower ROI than other AYANEO devices.
I'll keep an eye out and will update this page If we learn more about why AYANEO decided to stop producing the Flip DS and Flip KB.
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