Ayaneo Pocket Play put on hold, as gaming phones get off to a bad start in 2026

Gaming company Ayaneo has decided to hold the intriguing Pocket Play smartphone back, after deciding to overhaul its customer service and device management systems.

The announcement comes just days before the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was set to go live, and weeks after Asus apparently confirmed there would not be an ROG gaming phone release this year, meaning 2026 has not started well for mobile gaming fans.

Fixing company problems

Ayaneo’s CES Arthur Zhang wrote a lengthy blog post on the company’s website, going into detail about what he describes as “service-related concerns” raised by customers, particularly those outside China.

Zhang puts a plan for improvements into place during 2026, focusing on customer support, speed and quality of the service, and most importantly for the Pocket Play, “Shipping timelines and fulfillment order of crowdfunding projects.”

Going into further detail, Zhang states Ayaneo will, in the future, increase pre-sales activity through the company’s website, and decrease the use of crowdfunding on new products. When crowdfunding is used, Zhang promises to improve delivery management to avoid delays.

Not the end of the Pocket Play

What does this mean for the Pocket Play? The crowdfunding project was due to go live on January 13, but this has now been canceled. Zhang explained the situation, and thankfully it’s not the end of the road for the Pocket Play:

We believe it would be irresponsible to start any new project before we have fully addressed existing user concerns and verified the effectiveness of our new service processes.

Development of Pocket Play continues at full speed. Once we have fulfilled our commitments to existing users and established a more mature and reliable delivery and service system, we plan to relaunch the project in a more transparent way in late January or early February.

Although it’s disappointing the Pocket Play has been put on hold, it would have been far worse — both for Ayaneo’s reputation and for customers — if the Kickstarter campaign had resulted in a delayed product.

Disappointing start to 2026

The Ayaneo Pocket Play was poised to fill the gap left in the market by the Asus ROG Phone 10’s absence. After very few rumors gathered about the phone, Asus confirmed to telecom partners it would not launch any new phones in 2026, signaling the end of Asus’s long run of ROG gaming smartphones.

Asus has ruled the gaming phone niche for years, but as flagship devices get more powerful and capable, only hardcore games players looked to a dedicated gaming phone, making it a small market.

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Ayaneo caters to a slightly different crowd, and the Pocket Play’s distinctive retro design should appeal to its keen customer base, and those invested in classic gaming.

It’s refreshing to see a company admit its shortcomings, and to take steps to improve them, all while pausing the launch of a highly anticipated device. We’ll find out if it succeeds over the coming months.