This $1,700 gaming handheld is a treat for Evangelion fans

By Patrick Hearn Published April 14, 2025

The OneXPlayer X1 Pro is back on the market with a fresh, anime-inspired look, upgraded internals, and an absurdly high price point. If you haven’t laid eyes on this handheld before, it’s like the Microsoft Surface and the Nintendo Switch had a baby — and this particular model looks like it was delivered on the floor of an anime convention dedicated to Evangelion.

In addition to being a gaming handheld, it’s also a 2-in-1 PC. A kickstand on the rear lets you prop up the screen, and it has a detachable keyboard — also Evangelion-themed — that you can remove on the fly. The gamepads on both sides of the screen give it the look of a bug with too-small wings, but they can be detached and used as a gamepad.

That’s probably a good thing, since it has a 10.95-inch display. OneXPlayer doesn’t provide an exact weight, but we can’t imagine it’s easy to play for extended periods of time with a size like that. It sports a whopping 64GB of RAM and 2TB of onboard memory — more than enough for you to keep all your favorite games and every season and spin-off of Evangelion you can think of.

It also has an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, an upgrade from the original model’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. The display supports up to 120Hz, has a maximum brightness of 540 nits, and is 2.5K HD resolution. There’s also a 65wH battery and a 100W fast charging to keep you powered up while you play.

Bear in mind, this new version is a limited edition, so stock won’t last forever. And honestly, while the specs are impressive, we aren’t sure it justifies the $1,650 price tag. That’s enough to buy a relatively high-end gaming PC (or 3.5 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles), and the only thing that sets it apart from its base version is its dedication to a particular anime waifu.

Then again, the original version of the OneXPlayer X1 Pro isn’t much more affordable. It has a starting price of $1,500 (or currently $1,360 on sale.) This handheld is definitely more of a novelty, but it’s a cool piece of hardware nonetheless.