Anbernic RG DS: Specs, Price, and RG DS vs RG DS Plus vs RG DDS

The Anbernic RG DS is a $94.99 clamshell handheld built to play Nintendo DS games on two real screens: two 4-inch 640x480 touchscreens, a Rockchip RK3568 chip and Android 14, at Anbernic's own store on 29 October 2026. Reviewers agree it plays DS games well and is too slow for much else. If you want 3DS, the $284.99 Anbernic RG DDS is the model for it; if you only want DS, the same-price Anbernic RG DS Plus has sharper screens that scale DS games evenly.

This page sets out the specs from Anbernic's listing, what the outlets that tested it found, and how the three Anbernic dual-screen models compare. We have not tested the RG DS ourselves; every hands-on finding below is credited to the outlet that made it.

The three RG DS colours. Image: Anbernic, from the RG DS product listing at LitNXT.

What the RG DS is

Anbernic released the RG DS in late 2025. It is shaped like a Nintendo DSi: two screens of the same size joined by a hinge, a D-pad and four face buttons, and a capacitive stylus in the box. Anbernic added two small analog sticks, a Hall sensor that sleeps the console when you close the lid, a six-axis gyroscope and a vibration motor.

The chip is the Rockchip RK3568, a quad-core Cortex-A55 at up to 2.0GHz with an ARM Mali-G52 2EE GPU. That is a low-power part. It is fast enough for DS emulation in DraStic, and that is the job the RG DS was built for.

Both screens take touch input, and Anbernic lists both as supporting its capacitive stylus. That matters when you compare it with the RG DS Plus, which only has touch on the bottom screen. Original DS styluses will not work, because the panels are capacitive rather than resistive, as Android Authority pointed out.

Anbernic RG DS specs

From Anbernic's product listing, checked on 29 October 2026:

The 640x480 screens are 4:3, the same shape as a DS screen, but 480 divided by 192 (the DS's vertical resolution) is 2.5. DS games therefore scale by a fraction. Anbernic turns a shader on by default to hide the uneven pixels, and Android Authority found it does that job.

Anbernic's hinge graphic: the lid holds at any angle and a Hall switch sleeps the console when closed. Image: Anbernic, via LitNXT.

What reviewers found

Three outlets on this site's sources list tested the RG DS. They agree on DS games and disagree on how much the flaws matter.

Android Authority was the most positive. Nick Fernandez wrote that the RG DS "feels more like a Nintendo DS than any other modern handheld" and praised the D-pad, the face buttons and a hinge stiff enough to hold any angle. He found the shoulder buttons loud and the small inset sticks slippery. In DraStic every game he tried ran at full speed. melonDS, the more accurate open-source emulator, ran nothing he tested at full speed. Systems up to PS1 were fine, and you can switch off the top screen to save battery when playing them. Most 3DS games were out of reach; Rune Factory 4 was an exception. His complaints were touch lag (bad news for rhythm games), slow charging at about 2.5 hours, and no charge-limit setting.

Retro Handhelds was harder on it. Jim Gray found the screens sharp and DraStic's upscaled output good, with mild warmth during long sessions. But the top screen froze at random on his unit, swapping layouts in DraStic only changed the bottom screen, and the D-pad registered false diagonals. He also found the shell large and uncomfortable over long sessions. His conclusion was that it is "not great at the one thing it exists to do", and that community firmware such as GammaOS may fix the software side.

Retro Game Corps landed between the two. Notebookcheck's summary of the video says the RK3568 cannot handle real multitasking across the two screens (playing a video on one screen while emulating on the other costs performance), that the range of systems it emulates well is narrow, and that touch input lags in some games. Notebookcheck adds that software updates could improve things.

The pattern across all three: DS games in DraStic are good, the chip has no headroom past that, and battery life in real use is four to five hours against Anbernic's six.

Anbernic's split-screen mode runs one app per screen. Retro Game Corps found the RK3568 slows down when both are busy. Image: Anbernic, via LitNXT.

Android, Linux and frontends

The RG DS boots Android 14 from its 32GB of internal storage. That means Android emulators such as DraStic and RetroArch install as ordinary apps, and Android frontends built for two screens run on it. Cocoon 3, the free launcher Retro Game Corps picks for dual-screen devices, names the RG DS in its 3.1 release notes as a target for smoother menus on slower hardware.

Anbernic also lists Linux. It sells the console with a 64GB Linux card for $109.99, and LitNXT sells Android and Linux card bundles. Retro Handhelds pointed to GammaOS, a community firmware, as a possible fix for the screen problems it hit; we have not confirmed which community firmwares support the RG DS today, so check each project's device list before you buy for one.

RG DS vs RG DS Plus vs RG DDS

Anbernic now sells three dual-screen handhelds. The RG DS and RG DS Plus cost the same and target DS games; the RG DDS is a much faster 3DS-shaped machine at three times the price. Specs and prices from each product's listing on anbernic.com, 29 October 2026:

RG DS or RG DS Plus. For DS games alone, the RG DS Plus has the better screens. 1024x768 is exactly four times the DS resolution in each direction, so games scale cleanly without a shader. Retro Handhelds' Ban, reviewing the Plus on 28 September 2026, called it a "perfect DS alternative" that feels much better in the hand than the original, while regretting the lack of internal storage and the drop to one analog stick. His pink review unit died during testing, which is worth knowing. Pick the RG DS instead if you want Android: the Plus has 1GB of RAM and runs Linux, so Android apps, the Play Store and Android frontends are out. The RG DS also keeps touch on both screens.

RG DS or RG DDS. The RG DDS is a different class of device. Its Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 is aimed at 3DS, and Anbernic sized its screens at exactly three times the 3DS resolution. It is a pre-order shipping from 10 December, and no outlet had published a full review by the time we checked. Our RG DDS explainer has its specs and launch details. If you only play DS and older games, the RG DS does that for a third of the price. If 3DS is the reason you want two screens, skip the RG DS.

For the wider field, including the Retroid Pocket Duo and the AYN Thor, see our dual-screen handhelds comparison.

Where to buy the RG DS

Prices from each store's product data on 29 October 2026. Anbernic's own store was cheaper than LitNXT by $65 for the console alone.

LitNXT also lists the 64GB Linux card alone for $39.99. That is the card, not the console.

Most of this site's readers are outside the US. Anbernic lists China-warehouse variants of every colour at $94.99 console-only, and those are the ones a UK, EU, Canadian or Australian buyer would compare; check the shipping cost to your country at checkout. US buyers who want delivery from the US warehouse were limited to the $109.99 bundle on 29 October.

Who the RG DS suits

• Buy it if you want Nintendo DS games on two real screens under $100, you want Android rather than Linux, and you can live with four to five hours of battery.
• Buy the RG DS Plus instead if DS is all you play and you would rather have sharper screens that scale DS games evenly. It costs the same.
• Buy the RG DDS instead if you want 3DS and can wait for a December ship date and the first full reviews.
• Skip all three if you have never wanted two screens. A single-screen handheld does everything else better for the money; our Anbernic guide covers the range.

If you are deciding what to play once it arrives, our list of the best DS games covers the 20 to start with and what each one does with two screens.