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Ayaneo's $299 Next Lite is a Steam Deck rival that runs an unofficial copy of SteamOS

Following a cryptic tease during CES 2024, Ayaneo has revealed its Next Lite gaming handheld and it's a confusing product, to say the least.

It's designed to compete with Steam Deck, but it doesn't run Valve's official SteamOS — rather, it uses a forked version called HoloISO. If you'd rather run Windows like most other handhelds, it supports that option and Ayaneo will offer required drivers on its official website. The company also initially said it would ship with SteamOS, which got everyone excited, but it turns out that it won't officially support Valve's operating system.

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