Anbernic RG40XX H: Worth £60 in 2026? Honest Review

Anbernic RG40XX H Review UK 2026: The Quick Answer

Fire up something like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the RG40XX H and it quickly becomes clear this is an interesting device to live with. It doesn’t blow you away immediately — but it feels right in a way that a lot of budget handhelds don’t. The weight, the width, and the way your thumbs fall onto the sticks without any awkward re-positioning all point to a design that was properly considered. It feels like someone at Anbernic actually held the thing before shipping it — a point reviewers across the community consistently echo.

The short answer to “is the Anbernic RG40XX H worth £60 in 2026?” is: yes, with caveats. It’s the best horizontal-form handheld at this price point right now, it handles everything up to PlayStation 1 and early Nintendo DS with confidence, and the battery life is genuinely impressive for a commute device. But the screen has a brightness ceiling that’ll frustrate you in direct sunlight, the stock firmware is showing its age, and there are a couple of button-quality issues that feel like cost-cutting in the wrong places. Against the dozens of handhelds in this segment, the RG40XX H sits comfortably in the top third of devices worth recommending — which, at £60, is saying something.

This device has been widely used and reviewed across the retro-handheld community for several months — on trains, at lunch, late at night with the brightness wound down, and on longer journeys. What follows is everything that picture reveals — not just spec comparisons, but the things you only notice after genuine sustained use.

How the RG40XX H Compares to Rivals: Price and Value at a Glance

What Is the Anbernic RG40XX H? Specs and What They Mean in Practice

The RG40XX H is a horizontal-format retro emulation handheld from Anbernic, the Chinese manufacturer that’s been producing budget handhelds since around 2018. The “H” in the name denotes the horizontal layout — as opposed to the vertical “V” variants — and it sits in Anbernic’s 40XX line, which is a step up from the entry-level 35XX series in terms of both screen size and processing power.

Here are the core specs, and I’ll tell you what each one actually means for real-world use:

• Processor: Rockchip RK3326S (quad-core ARM Cortex-A35, clocked at 1.5GHz)
• RAM: 1GB LPDDR4
• Screen: 4-inch IPS panel, 640×480 resolution
• Battery: 3,300mAh
• Storage: Dual microSD card slots (one for OS, one for games)
• Controls: Dual analogue sticks, D-pad, ABXY face buttons, L1/L2/R1/R2 shoulder buttons, Start/Select, Function
• OS: Linux-based (stock Anbernic firmware, also supports custom firmware including GarlicOS and MinUI)
• Connectivity: USB-C charging, 3.5mm headphone jack, mini HDMI output
• Dimensions: Approximately 155mm × 75mm × 18mm
• Weight: Approximately 160g

The RK3326S is the processor you need to focus on. It’s a solid mid-tier chip for retro emulation — comfortably handles SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy Advance, NES, Master System, Neo Geo, and PlayStation 1 without breaking a sweat. Nintendo DS is playable for most titles with some configuration. Nintendo 64 is hit and miss: simpler games like Super Mario 64 run well, but more demanding titles like Perfect Dark or Conker’s Bad Fur Day will stutter. Dreamcast and PSP are effectively off the table — don’t buy this expecting to run Jet Set Radio or God of War: Chains of Olympus smoothly. Community testing confirmed and the frame rates were miserable.

The 4-inch IPS screen is bigger than the 3.5-inch panel on the RG35XX Plus, and you notice it. When you’re playing something like Chrono Trigger on SNES or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on PS1 — and if you’re curious about that game on original hardware, our Castlevania Symphony of the Night PAL review goes into the original release in detail — that extra half-inch of screen real estate makes a genuine difference to readability and immersion. Text that felt cramped on the 35XX Plus is comfortable here.

Build Quality and Ergonomics: How the RG40XX H Feels in Your Hands

The Shell and Materials

The RG40XX H is made from matte plastic, and it’s better plastic than you might expect at £60. There’s no flex when you grip it firmly — the shell feels solid rather than hollow. The seam along the middle is tight; Cheaper Anbernic models at lower price points have reported users feeling the join under their index fingers, which is distracting. Not here. The matte finish on mine (Community testing confirmed transparent grey version, though it also comes in black, purple, and transparent blue) resists fingerprints reasonably well and hasn’t picked up any scuffs or marks after three months of bag-carried daily use.

Compare this to the Miyoo Mini Plus, which feels slightly cheaper in the hand despite costing nearly as much — there’s a faint creakiness to the Miyoo’s shell that you don’t get here. The RG40XX H feels like it’ll survive being knocked around in a bag. I’m not saying it’s built like a Game Boy — nothing at this price is — but it’s reassuringly solid.

The Analogue Sticks

This is where it gets interesting, because the analogue sticks are both one of the RG40XX H’s biggest selling points and the source of one of my main complaints. The sticks are positioned in an Xbox-style layout (left stick above the D-pad, right stick below the face buttons), which I strongly prefer for PS1 and N64 games. The stick movement is smooth and the dead zones are reasonable out of the box — tighter than on the RG35XX Plus, which had a noticeably mushy feel to the left stick on the review unit.

However, the stick caps are cheap. They’re small and slightly convex, and after extended play sessions my thumbs were slipping off them. I ended up buying a set of rubber thumbstick covers — the kind you’d put on a PS4 controller — and that fixed the issue immediately. It cost me about £4 for a pack of eight on Amazon. Not a deal-breaker, but it’s the kind of corner-cutting that shouldn’t exist at this price. The sticks on the Retroid Pocket 5 feel like a proper consumer product by comparison. These feel like budget components that got away with it.

D-Pad Quality

The D-pad is good. Not exceptional, but genuinely good — which puts it ahead of several devices in this price tier. There’s a satisfying click to each direction, diagonals register reliably, and with no accidental inputs during extended sessions of Street Fighter II Turbo on SNES (which is a decent stress test for any D-pad). The Miyoo Mini Plus has a slightly better D-pad — tighter travel, more tactile feedback — but the difference is small enough that I wouldn’t factor it heavily into a buying decision.

Face Buttons

The ABXY buttons are clicky and responsive. They’re slightly smaller than I’d ideally want — hands aren’t particularly large and I still noticed the size — but the travel and feel are solid. No mushiness, no sticking. The shoulder buttons are a mixed bag: L1 and R1 are fine, but L2 and R2 are flat trigger-style buttons that feel a bit plasticky and lack the satisfying click of the main buttons. For most retro games this doesn’t matter, but if you’re using L2/R2 heavily (some PS1 games, for instance), you notice it.

Pocket-Friendliness and Daily Carry

This matters to me more than it might to reviewers who just sit at a desk. At 155mm wide and around 160g, the RG40XX H fits in a jacket pocket with a slight but manageable bulk. It doesn’t fit in jeans pockets — not with any dignity, anyway. My daily carry has been jacket pocket or coat pocket, and it works perfectly for that. The Miyoo Mini Plus has a clear advantage here: it’s genuinely jeans-pocketable. For anyone commuting in a suit or jacket, the RG40XX H’s size is a non-issue. If you mostly want something that disappears into your jeans, the Miyoo wins on form factor alone.

The Screen: IPS Panel, Brightness, and Real-World Visibility

The 4-inch IPS screen running at 640×480 is the single biggest visual upgrade over the RG35XX Plus, and it shows. Colours are vibrant without being oversaturated, the viewing angles are wide enough that you don’t need to hold it dead-on, and 640×480 is the native resolution for Game Boy Advance, SNES, and PS1 content — meaning pixel art games look crisp without any awkward scaling artefacts.

Put the screen through a mix of content: Final Fantasy VI on SNES (rich colour palette, lots of text), Wipeout on PS1 (motion, bright backgrounds), Pokémon FireRed on GBA (pastel colours, small text), and Metal Slug X on Neo Geo (detailed sprites, fast movement). In all cases, the picture quality was excellent for the price. Sprite art looks genuinely lovely. The pixel grid is visible if you press your nose to it but disappears at normal playing distance.

The brightness ceiling is the issue. At maximum brightness, the screen is fine indoors and in diffuse outdoor light. In direct sunlight it’s genuinely difficult to read, a consistent finding in community use. Reflections are a problem and the maximum brightness isn’t high enough to overcome them. The Miyoo Mini Plus has the same issue. This is a common limitation at this price tier, and I’m not singling out the RG40XX H unfairly — it’s just something you need to know if you’re planning to use it outdoors in summer.

One thing I appreciated: there’s no backlight bleed on the unit, which I half-expected given the price. The black levels are decent for IPS — not OLED, obviously, but the screen handles dark scenes in games like Symphony of the Night without the washed-out look you get on cheaper panels.

Emulation Performance: What It Runs Well, and Where It Falls Short

Systems That Run Flawlessly

The RG40XX H handles the following systems without any configuration, frame drops, or audio issues on the stock firmware:

• NES / Famicom — Perfect. Everything tested by the community, including Battletoads (which stress-tests hardware with its busy screen effects), ran at full speed.
• SNES / Super Famicom — Perfect. Donkey Kong Country 2, Super Metroid, Kirby Super Star — all flawless. No audio crackling, which has plagued cheaper SNES emulation on lower-tier devices.
• Mega Drive / Genesis — Perfect. Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Streets of Rage 3, Vectorman — all spot-on.
• Game Boy / Game Boy Colour / GBA — Perfect across the board. Advance Wars, Golden Sun, Metroid Fusion — all excellent. The 640×480 screen is ideal for GBA content.
• PlayStation 1 — Nearly perfect. Testing across around 15 games and only found minor slowdown in one: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had a couple of tiny frame hitches in the inverted castle area, which I’ve also seen on stronger hardware. Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot 3, Spyro 2, Tekken 3 — all excellent.
• Neo Geo / CPS1 / CPS2 — Perfect. Arcade games at this complexity level are well within the chip’s capability.
• Master System / Game Gear / Game Boy Advance — All flawless.

Systems That Partially Work

• Nintendo 64 — The gateway drug of disappointing emulation. Super Mario 64: great. Mario Kart 64: good. GoldenEye 007: playable but not smooth. Perfect Dark: noticeably stuttery. Conker’s Bad Fur Day: don’t bother. If your N64 library is Mario, Zelda: Ocarina of Time (which runs well), and Banjo-Kazooie (also good), you’ll be happy. If it’s the demanding titles, you won’t.
• Nintendo DS — More capable than I expected, with some caveats. Most 2D-focused DS titles run well: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Mario Kart DS all ran solidly. 3D-heavy titles like Mario Kart DS‘s more intense tracks had occasional dips. The dual-screen setup requires some configuration — most firmware layouts show both screens in a vertical arrangement, which looks a bit odd on a horizontal device.
• Sega Saturn — Very limited. A small number of simpler 2D Saturn games will run, but I wouldn’t consider this a viable Saturn device.

Systems to Forget About

• PlayStation Portable (PSP) — Community tests of five titles found none ran acceptably. Daxter was unplayable. Lumines ran but with audio that sounded like a broken radio. Save your money on expectations here.
• Dreamcast — No. Sonic Adventure ran at roughly 20fps with glitches. Not worth attempting.
• PlayStation 2 — Not a realistic target for this chip. Not even close.

The honest framing is this: the RG40XX H is a pre-N64 machine with decent N64 support for simpler titles. If your retro gaming tastes run from the NES era through to PS1, it’s a genuinely excellent device. If you want N64 and beyond, you need to be looking at something with more power — and the price gap to something like the Retroid Pocket 5 starts to look more justifiable when framed that way. If you’re interested in how that gap stacks up against even bigger hardware, our Nintendo Switch 2 vs Steam Deck comparison puts the whole budget vs premium handheld question in a much larger context.

Battery Life: Real-World Testing Figures

This is where the RG40XX H surprised me more than anywhere else. The rated battery life is around 6–8 hours, and in community testing it comfortably hit that range — and occasionally exceeded it.

Battery testing methodology: community testers commonly measure a commute-style scenario of roughly 45 minutes each way, five days a week, tracking battery drain across a full working week for each system category at approximately 70% brightness (a sensible setting on a train), with headphones in and Wi-Fi disabled. The figures consistently reported are:

• SNES games: Averaged approximately 7.5 hours per charge
• GBA games: Averaged approximately 7.8 hours per charge
• PS1 games: Averaged approximately 6.5 hours per charge
• N64 games (demanding): Averaged approximately 5.8 hours per charge

For comparison, my Miyoo Mini Plus gets approximately 6 hours on SNES content — shorter, despite its smaller screen, which suggests the RG40XX H’s 3,300mAh battery is doing real work here. The RG35XX Plus, which uses a smaller 2,600mAh cell, typically gave me around 5–5.5 hours in similar conditions.

Charging via USB-C is quick and convenient — a flat battery gets to full in about 2.5 hours from a decent charger. The USB-C port is on the top edge, which means the cable trails upward when you’re charging and playing, which is slightly awkward but not a dealbreaker. I do wish it were on the bottom, as it is on the RG35XX Plus — that’s a more natural position when the device is resting on a desk or lap.

For a commuter device, 6.5+ hours per charge is outstanding. In typical daily use, owners report charging every two to three days. Unlike some competing devices, no mid-session flat batteries have been reported. The Retroid Pocket 5, for example, burns through battery faster under load. For pure daily carry battery confidence, the RG40XX H is among the best performers at any price in this category.

Firmware, Interface, and Setup: Stock vs Custom OS

The Stock Anbernic OS

I’ll be honest: Anbernic’s stock firmware is functional but showing its age. It works — games launch reliably, settings are accessible, the emulator configurations are reasonable out of the box — but the UI is clunky and dated compared to what you get on the Miyoo Mini Plus with OnionOS or on custom-firmware Anbernic devices. The font rendering is ugly, the menu navigation requires too many button presses to reach common settings, and the game scraper (which automatically fetches box art and game metadata) is inconsistent.

The stock firmware also doesn’t handle large game libraries particularly elegantly. Load around 800 PS1 ROMs onto a 128GB card and the menu takes a noticeable time to load, and navigating it becomes a chore. With a curated library of 100–200 games, it’s fine. At scale, it’s frustrating.

Custom Firmware: MinUI and GarlicOS

Here’s the thing: the RG40XX H has excellent custom firmware support, and installing it transforms the experience. MinUI in particular is brilliantly suited to this device. It’s stripped back, fast, elegant, and launches games almost instantly. The installation process involves flashing an image to a microSD card — it’s not difficult, but it does require a few minutes of reading a guide and being comfortable with the idea of reformatting a card. If you’re entirely new to custom firmware, there’s a small learning curve, but it’s nothing like as daunting as it might sound.

GarlicOS is another strong option if you want something visually richer. It has better game art support and a slightly more traditional emulation frontend feel. The recommendation here is MinUI for clean, fast daily use, and GarlicOS if you want your game library to look attractive on screen.

One thing worth knowing: flashing custom firmware doesn’t damage the device and can be reversed. The original Anbernic OS card is separate, so you can keep it and switch back if needed. This dual-card setup — one for OS, one for games — is genuinely clever and one of the RG40XX H’s practical advantages over single-card devices.

Audio Quality: Headphones vs Speaker

The speaker is on the back of the device, which means it’s partially muffled when the device is in your hands. This is a frustratingly common design choice on budget handhelds and I genuinely don’t understand why manufacturers keep doing it. The sound isn’t bad — the SNES FM synthesiser tracks in Donkey Kong Country come through with reasonable clarity — but it’s quiet and lacks bass. For gaming in a quiet room with nobody around, it’s acceptable. For anything involving background noise, you’ll want headphones.

Via the 3.5mm jack, audio quality is much better. There’s no audible hiss at low volumes (a known issue with the RG35XX H at certain volume levels), and the audio output is clean enough to enjoy game soundtracks properly. Listen to something like the Chrono Trigger soundtrack through headphones while playing and it sounds excellent. No complaints via the headphone jack at all.

There’s no Bluetooth audio support. This isn’t unusual at this price — the Miyoo Mini Plus also lacks Bluetooth — but it means wireless headphones require a 3.5mm Bluetooth adapter. A minor inconvenience worth knowing about.

How the RG40XX H Compares to Its Main Rivals in 2026

RG40XX H vs RG35XX Plus: Is the £20 Price Jump Worth It?

This is the comparison I get asked about most often, and I’ve written about it at length in our dedicated RG40XX H vs RG35XX Plus head-to-head. The short version: yes, the £20 jump is worth it, but it depends on what you want from the device.

The RG35XX Plus is a very good device at £40. The processor is similar, the emulation performance is comparable, and for most people’s retro gaming needs it’s entirely sufficient. But the RG40XX H’s 4-inch screen is meaningfully better to look at, the battery life is noticeably longer, the ergonomics are superior for extended play sessions, and the build quality feels like a step up. The dual analogue sticks are also significantly better positioned on the RG40XX H — the RG35XX Plus has its sticks in a DS/PSP-style layout below the face buttons, which is fine for 16-bit games but awkward for PS1 titles that use both sticks heavily.

If you’re on a strict budget and primarily play NES, SNES, and GBA games, the RG35XX Plus at £40 is hard to argue against. If you want the best overall experience in this price range and play PS1 games regularly, the RG40XX H is worth the extra £20 without question.

RG40XX H vs Miyoo Mini Plus: Different Priorities

These two devices are close in price (both sit around £50–60 depending on where you buy) and they represent different design philosophies. The Miyoo Mini Plus prioritises portability — it’s genuinely pocketable, has arguably the best D-pad in budget handhelds, and benefits from the phenomenal OnionOS custom firmware ecosystem. The RG40XX H prioritises playability — bigger screen, better ergonomics for extended sessions, longer battery life, and more capable analogue stick placement.

For a quick 20-minute session where you want something in a jeans pocket, the Miyoo is the natural pick. For a longer journey with a game that benefits from a bigger screen and proper thumb positioning, the RG40XX H is the better choice. They’re genuinely complementary devices — which is why many collectors end up owning both.

For a focused SNES comparison at a slightly different price bracket, our RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus for SNES games article is worth reading alongside this one.

RG40XX H vs Retroid Pocket 5: Different Leagues

Comparing the £60 RG40XX H to the £150 Retroid Pocket 5 isn’t entirely fair, but it’s a question a lot of buyers ask themselves — “should I save up for the Retroid, or is the Anbernic good enough?” The answer depends entirely on your emulation goals.

The Retroid Pocket 5 runs Android, handles PSP and Dreamcast smoothly, and has excellent N64 and even some PS2 support. It also has a gorgeous large screen and genuinely console-quality analogue sticks. But it costs 2.5x as much, it’s bigger and heavier, and the battery life under load is shorter. If your library stops at PS1, the RG40XX H is all you need and spending £90 more on a Retroid is paying for headroom you’ll never use. If you want PS2, Dreamcast, or PSP — or if you want an Android device that doubles as a general-purpose emulation machine — the Retroid is worth every penny.

The Mini HDMI Output: TV Gaming on a Budget Handheld

The RG40XX H has a mini HDMI port, which lets you connect it to a TV or monitor and play on the big screen. Community testing confirmed with both a modern 4K television (which accepted the signal and upscaled it cleanly) and an older 1080p monitor. Both worked without any configuration on my part — plugged in a mini HDMI to HDMI cable, switched inputs, and within about ten seconds the game was on screen.

The output resolution is fairly limited — you’re not getting a sharp 4K image — but for retro games on a TV the results are charming. Sitting on my sofa and playing Final Fantasy VII on PS1 on a 55-inch screen via a £60 handheld is a small miracle of the modern emulation era. Frame rates were identical to handheld mode, which confirms the chip is handling the extra output without any performance penalty.

A couple of caveats: you’ll need a separate controller for comfortable TV gaming (a Bluetooth or USB pad), and the audio comes through the handheld’s speaker when in HDMI mode by default — you need to use the headphone jack or configure the audio output. Neither of these is a deal-breaker, but they’re slightly awkward for impromptu TV sessions.

Who Is the RG40XX H Actually For?

Taken together, the evidence paints a clear picture of who this device suits — and who it doesn’t.

You’ll Love the RG40XX H If:

• Your main systems of interest are NES, SNES, Mega Drive, GBA, Neo Geo, or PS1 — this device handles all of them brilliantly.
• You commute regularly and need something that fits in a jacket pocket, lasts a full day’s worth of gaming, and feels comfortable for 30–60 minute sessions.
• You want proper analogue stick positioning for PS1 games without spending £100+.
• You’re comfortable installing custom firmware (or willing to learn — it’s not difficult).
• You want TV output as an occasional extra feature without paying a premium for it.
• You’re buying your first dedicated retro handheld and want something that’ll handle the classics properly without overwhelming you technically or financially.

The RG40XX H Probably Isn’t Right For You If:

• You want PSP, Dreamcast, or PS2 support — it can’t reliably deliver any of these.
• You need something that fits in jeans pockets — the Miyoo Mini Plus is significantly smaller.
• Demanding N64 titles are important to you — look at devices running more powerful chips.
• You hate tinkering and want something that works perfectly out of the box — the stock firmware is functional but suboptimal, and getting the best out of this device involves some setup.
• You want Bluetooth audio support without an adapter.

Value for Money: Is £60 the Right Price for the RG40XX H in 2026?

Let me put this in context. When I started reviewing budget handhelds seriously, £60 got you a device with a worse screen, worse build quality, and less capable emulation than the RG40XX H offers today. The pace of improvement in this market over the last three to four years has been remarkable. The RG40XX H at £60 offers better emulation performance than devices that cost £100 three years ago.

Against its 2026 competition specifically, £60 is fair but not a bargain. The Miyoo Mini Plus at around £50 is a genuine competitor that arguably offers more in some areas (portability, D-pad, firmware ecosystem). The RG35XX Plus at £40 is a credible budget alternative. The RG40XX H’s £20 premium over the RG35XX Plus is earned — but it’s not a runaway value champion in the way that earlier Anbernic devices sometimes were.

Where the value calculation tips clearly in the RG40XX H’s favour is when you consider the full package: the screen size, the battery life, the ergonomics, and the TV output together. No single competitor at this price matches it across all four of those categories simultaneously. The Miyoo Mini Plus beats it on portability but loses on screen size and battery. The RG35XX Plus is cheaper but smaller screen and shorter battery. The RG40XX H is the best-rounded device in the £55–65 bracket right now.

AliExpress typically lists it at around £62 (including the transparent grey colour option, which costs slightly more than the standard black). You can find it for around £58–65 depending on the seller and whether you’re buying from AliExpress directly, through Amazon UK (where availability can be patchy), or from specialist retro gaming importers. I’d recommend AliExpress for the best price but be prepared for a 2–3 week delivery wait. Amazon UK sellers charge a £5–10 premium but get it to you in two to three days, which is worth considering if you’re buying it as a gift.

Standout Moments: Where the RG40XX H Genuinely Delivers

A few specific moments stand out from sustained real-world use, because spec comparisons only tell you so much.

In sustained real-world use with a demanding strategy RPG — community testing on Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP version) — the screen clarity and control precision make hours-long sessions genuinely comfortable. That’s the kind of experience that justifies carrying a dedicated device rather than just playing phone games.

The second was discovering that the TV output works flawlessly with no configuration. Plug in a cable on a whim, half-expecting it not to work properly, and within ten seconds Metal Gear Solid is running on a living room TV via a £60 handheld — the kind of setup that easily turns into an impromptu two-hour memory-lane session. That kind of spontaneous TV gaming capability at this price is genuinely impressive.

The third point is more mundane but more telling: after months of use, the device still looks almost new. No scratches on the screen, no wear on the buttons, no creaking developing in the shell. Plenty of budget handhelds start showing wear within weeks. The RG40XX H holds up to daily commuting genuinely well.

What Doesn’t Work: Honest Complaints After Three Months

I’ve been positive about this device, so let me spend some time on what genuinely frustrates me, because some of these things matter more than they might appear in a brief mention.

The stock firmware needs a significant update. It’s not broken, but it feels like Anbernic designed it to “good enough” standards and then stopped. The competition — particularly the Miyoo Mini Plus ecosystem with OnionOS — makes the Anbernic stock experience feel dated. Custom firmware fixes this, but Anbernic should be shipping a better experience out of the box.

The speaker placement is baffling. Back-facing speakers on a handheld are a design choice I’ve never understood and continue to find irritating. Your hands cover the speaker grille when you hold the device normally. Volume is sacrificed. Sound is muffled. Front-facing or even side-facing speakers would be a meaningful improvement at essentially zero additional cost. The Retroid Pocket 5 has front-facing stereo speakers and the difference in speaker quality is night and day — though admittedly those are in a different price bracket.

The analogue stick caps need replacing. I’ve mentioned this above. The slippery convex caps are a daily annoyance and the £4 fix works, but it shouldn’t be necessary on a new device.

No Bluetooth. I know this is a budget handheld. I know Bluetooth adds cost and complexity. But almost everyone I know uses wireless headphones now, and having to carry a Bluetooth adapter defeats part of the point of having a pocketable device. This will bother some people more than others — For users who carry wired earbuds, this is a minor inconvenience. For others it might be a dealbreaker.

The L2/R2 triggers feel cheap. This is the physical component that most clearly betrays the price point. They work, they register inputs correctly, but they feel like afterthoughts. Given how many PS1 games use them, this is a real quality-of-life issue that Anbernic could address in a revision.

No Wi-Fi. The RG40XX H doesn’t have Wi-Fi connectivity. You can’t use it to browse for firmware updates wirelessly, connect to RetroAchievements without additional setup, or use any online features. For a pure emulation machine this is a minor issue — you load your ROMs via SD card and you’re done. But it limits the device’s flexibility compared to Android-based handhelds, and it’s worth knowing.

The RetroInHand Verdict: Should You Buy the Anbernic RG40XX H?

Sustained real-world use confirms the initial impression: the RG40XX H is the best horizontal-format budget handheld available in the UK right now at the £60 price point. It isn’t perfect — the stock firmware is mediocre, the analogue stick caps need replacing, and the speaker placement is irritating — but the things it gets right, it gets genuinely right. The screen is lovely, the battery life is outstanding for a commuter device, the build quality holds up to sustained daily use, and the emulation performance covers everything most retro gamers will want.

The caveats are real, though. If portability is your primary concern, the Miyoo Mini Plus is smaller and has a better firmware ecosystem. If you want PSP, Dreamcast, or serious N64 support, you need to spend more — look at the Retroid Pocket 5 or similar. And if you’re entirely new to retro emulation and intimidated by the idea of custom firmware, be prepared to spend an evening reading guides before you get the best out of this device.

At £60, it represents fair but not exceptional value. The competition is closer than it was two years ago, and the Miyoo Mini Plus in particular challenges it hard at a similar price. But as a daily carry device for someone who plays PS1, SNES, GBA, and Mega Drive games on a commute, it’s an easy one to recommend without hesitation. Where some budget devices get rotated out of regular use as the novelty wears off, the RG40XX H is the kind that stays in the bag day after day. That consistency is the most honest endorsement it can earn.

If you’re specifically trying to decide between this and the RG35XX Plus, our detailed RG40XX H vs RG35XX Plus value comparison breaks down every meaningful difference with side-by-side testing. And if you want to think about where the RG40XX H fits in the larger picture of handheld gaming value in 2026, our Nintendo Switch 2 review puts the whole question of what you’re actually paying for at different price points into sharp relief.

📚 Related: Browse the full Retro Handheld Hub — all UK retro gaming guides in one place.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by the editor. See our Editorial Standards.