Trump Tariffs May Kill Super-Cheap Retro Handhelds—But it Won’t Kill What Made Them Popular

The aboriginal of the inexpensive retro gaming handheld is looking grim, and it couldn’t travel astatine a worse clip for gamers looking for a inexpensive and good executed fix. The upcoming Switch 2 is acceptable to merchantability for $450, $150 much than the starting terms of 2017’s archetypal Switch. The PS5 is going up successful price successful immoderate regions. Games themselves will outgo $70, $80, oregon even $100. All these terms hikes should lone assistance propel the legion of great-feeling, excessively inexpensive handhelds to adjacent greater stardom. Unfortunately, Trump’s tariffs are acceptable to hit tiny businesses and niche hobbies adjacent harder than the biggest players who tin spend to cajole the capricious main executive into making an exception. Retro handhelds are astir definite to summation successful price, and by a lot.

The concern surrounding tariffs are truthful fluid, there’s nary telling wherever gaming volition extremity up erstwhile (if) the chaos ends. As it presently stands, consoles don’t get a carveout from tariffs that different electronics similar smartphones will. Aubrey Quinn, a elder VP astatine the largest gaming manufacture commercialized group, the Entertainment Software Association, told IGN earlier this period that tariffs would person “a existent and detrimental impact” to each facet of the gaming industry. She was mostly referring to the large players, similar Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, positive those companies that marque games and peripherals for them. She wasn’t talking astir the small-time retro handheld makers offering super-cheap devices for playing games via emulation. These devices are—by themselves—completely legal, though they sometimes vessel with ROMs, oregon “read-only memory,” which are typically copies of games that came retired years agone but whitethorn inactive beryllium nether copyright. It leaves immoderate retro handhelds successful a ineligible grey area, though their emulation capabilities are the crushed galore retro fans adore them.

Other large industries with lobbying powerfulness whitethorn beryllium capable to reason for exceptions to the Trump tariffs, but tiny makers of niche products don’t person overmuch leverage, said Gad Allon, a prof of operations astatine Wharton University of Pennsylvania. Allon told maine successful a telephone interrogation that “gaming is not the apical of interest from Trump, but Apple is.” And yet, the iPhone shaper whitethorn still summation prices 1 mode oregon another. The lone anticipation for U.S.-based companies is to set unneurotic successful a bloc that could perchance latch onto different exemption, helium said. For China-based gaming companies, the lone existent anticipation if these tariffs stay is to find different state extracurricular China for manufacturing.

Smaller brands that focus connected gaming emulation—which imitates gaming consoles hardware arsenic a signifier of software—have had a aureate property nether past commercialized policy. Last week, I followed my ain advice and decided to bargain not one, but 2 retro handhelds for little than $100 earlier the tariff-massacred marketplace made buying 1 untenable. I’m already enamored by their old-school consciousness and monolithic imaginable adjacent with their comparatively low-end specs. I bought some devices done AliExpress, a China-based tract utilized by tiny brands to vessel to different countries—especially the U.S.—for cheap.

Part of the crushed I could get those handhelds for truthful small is the aforesaid crushed companies similar Temu and Shein person been capable to nonstop ultra-cheap packages to the U.S. It’s called the “de minimis” exemption, which exempts packages valued astatine $800 oregon little from added duties erstwhile shipping to the U.S. It was an exemption carved retired of the Tariff Act of 1930 by the U.S. Congress for gifts, but it was expanded successful 2015 nether President Barack Obama successful bid to beforehand much escaped trade. Now, nether Trump, the exemption is astir guaranteed to conscionable its demise.

“De minimis is going to disappear,” Allon said, adding it’s apt the lone definite caller commercialized argumentation we tin number connected successful today’s cesspit of planetary economical negotiations.

The de minimis exemption has made enemies connected some sides of the governmental divide. Critics person complained the regularisation undercuts U.S. businesses that effort to merchantability slightly-higher prime products for somewhat much money. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs that sent the banal marketplace into panic besides laid retired a caller duty complaint for shipments from China. They specified a 30% taxation for the worth of a shipment oregon $25 per item. On Tuesday the administration tripled down connected these policies, and Trump has said helium wants to levy 90% of that value, oregon $75 per item. That volition summation to $150 per point connected June 1. These duties volition efficaciously go a taxation connected each U.S. nonmigratory who wants to bargain a merchandise from China.

For retro gamers, this could perchance triple the terms of each those once-cheap handhelds. By this summer, an Anbernic RG35XX—which successful the retro assemblage is considered a modern classical Game Boy-style emulation handheld—would leap from for $50 MSRP to implicit $90 oregon $200 astatine minimum. A Retroid Pocket 5—which is utilized for emulating games from the GameCube epoch oregon beyond—sits astatine $220. In a fewer months, it could outgo $418 oregon lively overmuch much considering the afloat expanse of tariffs. That’s astir the terms of a Switch 2 oregon Steam Deck.

The Analogue Pocket, known for playing morganatic Game Boy games with FPGA emulation. It could besides spot large interaction from Trump tariffs. © Andrew Liszewski / Gizmodo

Even if you opt to bargain these devices connected Amazon, tariffs are astir guaranteed to leap the handhelds’ cost. Those tariffs could person a large interaction connected the brands that marque these handhelds arsenic well. Companies similar Anbernic, Miyoo, Ayaneo, TrimUI, and Retroid sprang up to capable the inexpensive handheld gaming void near by the largest console makers. These brands mostly run retired of China, and those that don’t inactive trust connected China for manufacturing and shipping. These instrumentality makers are known for pushing caller devices retired the doorway with reckless abandon. Anbernic conscionable announced a caller RG557 handheld that’s expected to instrumentality connected different $200 devices. This week, Retroid told customers connected its Discord that it’s readying to fulfill each orders of its Retroid Pocket Flip 2 and Retroid Pocket Classic handhelds by May 2 which should debar the tariff deadline. Just past week, Ayaneo shared much details astir its horizontal Ayaneo Pocket Ace handheld and promised a afloat motorboat “in precocious April.” None of these companies person relayed what could hap to their products aft the tariff deadline. We reached retired to each 3 companies for remark connected whether tariffs volition interaction these releases, but it seems the handheld makers are staying mum until—or if—the tariff concern becomes clear.

The retro handheld roar took disconnected during the pandemic, wherever tiny retro crippled shops and instrumentality makers alike saw a question of income portion radical tried to disregard the tumult of lockdowns by throwing themselves into gaming’s past. Russ Crandall, a erstwhile nutrient blogger and cookbook author, started his Retro Game Corps YouTube transmission astir that time. His heavy dives into handhelds and gaming devices some large and tiny followed the retro handheld trend’s trajectory, and present his transmission has 645,000 subscribers. Crandall told maine implicit email the hobby has grown precipitously adjacent aft lockdown ended.

But that could alteration aft the extremity of de minimis exemptions. So far, Crandall said helium hasn’t heard thing from the galore brands helium works with. That apt means they’re keeping plans nether fastener and cardinal portion the planetary economical concern remains fluid. Crandall said tariffs volition besides interaction his ain hobby and his transmission arsenic helium often buys galore of the products helium reviews. Worse, helium said accrued prices volition interaction income of entry-level handhelds the hardest.

“The bittersweet world is that the cheaper handhelds are mostly the introduction constituent for a batch of newcomers, and I expect that if they are turned distant by that archetypal acquisition price; we’re going to spot little maturation successful the handheld community,” helium said.

A Miyoo Mini, left, and an Anbernic RG35XX. © Andrew Liszewski / Gizmodo

Game Boy’s heyday is agelong down us, but gamers inactive fondly retrieve erstwhile you could drawback Nintendo’s archetypal handheld for conscionable $90 (or $231 successful today’s dollars). A Nintendo DS with 2 times the screens started astatine $150 ($251 successful 2025). In 2011, consumers voted with their wallets and refused to bargain a Nintendo 3DS for $250. Nintendo past dropped the terms to $170. Over and over, gamers beryllium they privation tiny handhelds that whitethorn not lucifer the powerfulness of a $550 Steam Deck oregon handheld PC similar a Asus ROG Ally X, and it chiefly comes down to a origin of price, portability, and games availability. IDC information shown by The Verge identified that the Steam Deck—both OLED and non-OLED models—is estimated to merchantability 1.926 cardinal units successful 2025, 3 years aft launch. In 2014, 3 years aft the 3DS archetypal deed the country successful 2011, Nintendo sales data shows the institution sold 12.2 cardinal 3DS models that twelvemonth alone, including the 3DS XL and 2DS. The Nintendo DS from 2005 was adjacent much palmy worldwide.

There is simply a wide itch for this benignant of console, though Sony and Xbox are lone present coming astir to the thought of making a due handheld PC. Nintendo abandoned the 3DS eShop successful 2024, but that didn’t extremity the platform’s popularity. There’s an full cottage manufacture of radical online who marque workarounds to mod and jailbreak the 3DS to tally customized firmware, allowing them to instal their carnal cartridges oregon adhd successful homebrew games and apps. Gamers who got a sensation for aged schoolhouse single-board handhelds won’t halt conscionable due to the fact that the companies making them tin nary longer merchantability them for cheap. The hobby whitethorn stay niche, but large gamemakers could alteration that. Nintendo has made truthful galore strides with its Nintendo Online + Expansion Pack, which emulates games from old-school Nintendo and Sega consoles for the Switch. It adjacent announced GameCube games were coming to Switch 2. Imagine if Nintendo made a lightweight, lower-powered, lower-cost handheld for little than $200 that utilized a Switch Online subscription to play games? If the controls were spot on, it could beryllium an instant classical and acold amended than the revived Game & Watch from 2020.

Retro handheld makers brought backmost the champion aspects of the Game Boy era—mainly an attainable price, wide crippled selection, and fantabulous controls successful pint-sized packages. More than that, it brought backmost gamers who person mostly abandoned the hobby, partially owed to rising costs. I program to connection 1 of my two, inexpensive handhelds to a person who past played games connected a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP and has dreamed of moving done Pokémon Emerald Version erstwhile more. Tariffs and crippled companies tin support making things expensive, but the anticipation remains successful the communities keeping these tiny consoles alive.