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The next GPD handheld is a ‘modular Android game console’

Over the past few weeks GPD has been teasing the XP, a new handheld that the company has dubbed the “world’s first modular Android game console”, and today the device has a new dedicated website and an Indiegogo preview page.

As a quick refresher GPD is a Chinese company that made a name for itself in the handheld gaming market with tiny Windows machines that run full fat Windows installs.

It’s not unfair to say that the company kickstarted the entire market for these devices and we probably wouldn’t have the Steam Deck without it.

This success with Windows handhelds is what makes the XP unexpected. Dedicated Android gaming consoles are nothing new but for GPD to make one instead of another Windows machine is odd.

The main selling point of the XP is, as mentioned, its modularity. Think of the Nintendo Switch but the Joy-Cons can be switched out with dedicated modules to suit the game being played.

The different control modules have been revealed which you can see in the header image above and the unboxing video below. There’s a regular “Xbox controller module” which has a joystick and ABXY face buttons, an “FPS controller module” with five buttons arranged vertically and finally a “MOBA” controller module with no buttons at all that simply fills the open space.

For the two modules with no joystick players can simply use their thumbs on the screen of the device.

As for hardware the GPD XP is packing a MediaTek Helio G95 at the heart of things. This is combined with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that can be upgraded to 2TB with an SD card. The screen is 6.81 inches with a resolution of 1080 X 2400.

The video above is all in Chinese but we can expect some proper international-orientated content to be released soon.

There’s more English on the aforementioned Indiegogo preview page which may go live in October according to mentions of that month. GPD has used crowdfunding for all its handhelds so far so the company has a solid track record of delivering once the money comes in.

Aside from Valve coming into the market and eating GPD’s lunch in the Windows handheld market, an Android gaming platform seems like a bad pivot.

Not only do many people already have a powerful phone that can run games, but controller similar to all three modules are available in abundance on the market. No matter how good these modules are convincing people to spend more money to buy an entirely new device may be difficult.

That being said GPD does mention that mobile gaming is extremely popular in its native China and similar markets. This, on top of GPD’s record of bringing in a lot of money through crowdfunding, may mean that the XP can still be a success.

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