AYN announces more price hikes alongside a hardware downgrade for its Thor and Odin 3 retro handhelds
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AYN has shared an important update regarding its latest handheld devices, and it brings a mix of good and bad news for fans. The company confirmed that new pre-order batches for the AYN Thor and AYN Odin 3 will be opening soon (they’re now available at the time of writing this). However, along with that, there are some major changes to pricing and hardware specs.
The biggest hardware change is related to storage. AYN has confirmed that both Thor and Odin 3 will now switch from UFS 4.0 to UFS 3.1 storage, starting with the new batches. This decision comes after rising storage supply issues made UFS 4.0 difficult to source at a reasonable cost. While this helps the company continue production, it does mean a drop in performance.
Changes to the AYN Thor & Odin 3 price and specs
On the pricing side, AYN is trying to keep things stable for some models. The Thor Base and Pro versions will keep their current prices despite the rising costs. However, the highest-end model is not getting the same treatment. The Thor Max with 16GB RAM and 1TB storage will now cost $549, which is a noticeable increase over the previous $489 price tag.
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Prices correct as of September 21st, 2026.
Thor and Odin 3 prices were already raised in early March, so consumers are at least spared from a second increase in quick succession for the Base and Pro models. The Max model originally cost $449 – it’s now $100 more expensive compared to launch.
Moving on to the new storage spec, UFS 3.1 offers read speeds of up to 2100 MB/s and write speeds of up to 1200 MB/s. On the other hand, UFS 4.0 can reach up to 4200 MB/s read and 2800 MB/s write speeds. This means the new models could see around a 50% drop in storage speed performance. For lighter tasks like retro emulation, most users may not notice a difference. However, demanding tasks will likely be affected.
At the same time, AYN is adding a new option to the lineup. A 16GB RAM and 512GB storage version will now be available for $469. This gives buyers a slightly more affordable option if they don’t need 1TB of storage.
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