Thanks, Qualcomm: This brand-new Android handheld is already getting a price hike

Retroid hasn’t been immune to the RAM crisis and other component price hikes in 2026. The company was forced to increase the price of the Pocket 6, but there’s also bad news for its latest Android handheld.

Retroid announced on Discord that the cheapest Retroid Pocket Nova model (8GB+128GB) will now cost $10 more, citing “rising Qualcomm chipset and raw material costs.” This means the 8GB+128GB model will now retail for $239 instead of $229.

The price increase kicks in from August 6, so Retroid is encouraging people to place their orders before then if they’d like to avoid the price hike. Either way, this price hike isn’t unexpected, as the manufacturer warned people last week that Qualcomm could institute industry-wide price increases. Sure enough, Qualcomm announced wide-ranging price hikes last week.

Nevertheless, I’d argue that the Pocket Nova is still well worth a look at the slightly higher price point. The handheld brings a 4:3 OLED screen that should be a great fit for emulation up to the sixth generation of consoles. Other notable specs include what is effectively the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a 5,000mAh battery, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and 128GB of expandable storage. So you shouldn’t have a problem playing GameCube, PS2, and Switch games.