Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The ANBERNIC RG VITA will feature a Unisoc T618 SoC and 3GB of RAM.
- Those limited specs imply a much more budget-friendly device than initially thought.
- The Pro model will presumably be more powerful, but specs haven’t been revealed.
ANBERNIC has a strange habit of announcing otherwise excellent devices with a few puzzling decisions, and its upcoming RG VITA handheld is no exception. Despite the modern look, which is clearly inspired by the Sony PS Vita, it will use a budget chipset the company hasn’t used in years.
The RG VITA is slated to have a Unisoc T618 chipset, paired with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. That’s significantly weaker than the company’s recent releases (apart from the RG DS), and it’s unlikely to play GameCube or PS2 games reliably. ANBERNIC has shown off RG VITA gameplay of some PS2 games in a recent showcase, but it did the same with 3DS games on the RG DS, which the console simply can’t handle.
The RG VITA competes with budget Android gaming handhelds.
The last time ANBERNIC used the T618 was in 2023. It also powered the fan-favorite RG 505 back in 2022, where it was paired with 4GB of RAM, rather than the 3GB on the RG VITA. The RG 505 was, in many ways, the predecessor to the RG VITA, with a 16:9 screen at the same resolution and size as Sony’s ill-fated gaming handheld, 960 x 544. In fact, it may have even been the exact same OLED panel as the original PS Vita, for better or worse.
The choice of panel on the RG VITA is also puzzling for a PS Vita-focused device. The 5.46-inch IPS screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720, which doesn’t offer integer scaling for either PSP or PS Vita games. This is less of a concern than it would be for retro pixel-art systems, but it’s still a strange pick.
More troubling for PS Vita emulation is the software. The Vita3K emulator on Android is still in a rough spot, with frequent crashes and limited compatibility. A showcase by YouTuber forthenext demonstrates that although the RG VITA can run many PS Vita games at full speed, they still crash seemingly at random, with little recourse.
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It’s worth noting that the RG VITA will also feature a Pro model, but we don’t yet have the specs for it. Presumably, it will feature a more powerful chipset, but it’s unlikely to resolve problems with emulator compatibility.
ANBERNIC appears to be gearing up to launch the RG VITA very soon, so stay tuned for more details in the coming days.
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