When Retroid announced the start of Pocket Nova shipping last week, the company said it aims to keep prices “stable” following news of Qualcomm chipset price hikes. Well, it hasn’t taken long for these costs to be passed onto customers, as the Pocket Nova price tag is being upped by $10 for the 8GB variant.

The Pocket Nova is a 4:3 retro handheld powered by Qualcomm’s Dragonwing QCS8550, and the price increase is directly tied to rising costs for Qualcomm chipsets as of late. In an official announcement, a Retroid representative says the $10 increase is “due to rising Qualcomm chipset and raw material costs” and will be effective from this Thursday, August 6.

$10 increase for the 8GB Retroid Pocket Nova

As per a post on the official Retroid Discord, the Pocket Nova’s 8GB RAM/128GB storage model will be getting a small price increase of $10, which means it will cost as much as $244 on August 6 onwards. Interestingly, the 12GB variants will remain unchanged, so it does close the gap between the two tiers slightly.

Keep in mind that the pricing for the Pocket Nova varies slightly depending on which colorway you opt for. The Black, 16-bit, and GC (GameCube) colors are $5 cheaper than the Ice Blue, Crystal, Watermelon, and Clear Purple options. You can see how all of the pricing is affected in the table below.

Given the current market situation, we wouldn’t rule out future price changes – especially since retro handheld manufacturers have been tinkering with their prices all year long. It seems unlikely that Qualcomm will adjust its chipset prices again any time soon, but the issue of memory costs may remain a concern. On the bright side, Retroid has managed to keep its 12GB RAM models in stock, notably bringing back the 12GB version of the Pocket 6 in June.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.