We’ve just received some exciting new details on the upcoming ONEXPLAYER ONEXFLY Apex, and it’s shaping up to be an absolute beast. This isn’t just another incremental update; the Apex is being positioned as the “ultimate handheld weapon for serious gamers,” and the specs are truly wild. Forget what you know about handheld limits—the Apex is pushing into high-performance desktop territory with up to 120W TDP, external water cooling, and a jaw-dropping 128GB of RAM.
A Window to a New World of Gaming
Let’s start with the screen. The Apex will feature an 8-inch touchscreen. While ONEXPLAYER has not yet released detailed specifications on the panel type, we can make a strong prediction. Given the premium nature of their previous handhelds, it is highly likely this will be a vibrant, high-quality OLED panel with a high refresh rate, perfect for the kind of smooth, high-frame-rate gameplay this handheld gaming PC promises.
The Desktop-Class Heart of the Beast
The heart of the Apex is its new processor. It’s powered by the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 CPU, the exact same 16-core, 32-thread Zen 5 chip found in the GPD WIN 5. As we saw in our GPD WIN 5 review, this processor and its integrated Radeon 8060S GPU are absolute game-changers.
In our tests, this APU at just 28W delivered nearly double the performance of the previous generation. When pushed to higher TDPs, the gains are massive: we saw up to a 168% increase in Cyberpunk 2077 and a 121% increase in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 55W. In fact, its performance at 55W even surpasses a dedicated eGPU setup like the GPD G1 with its Radeon 7600M XT.
The ONEXPLAYER Apex plans to push this chip even further to a 120W TDP. This immense power is aimed not only at running modern AAA games at high settings but also at handling intensive AI compute tasks, such as running 70B DeepSeek LLMs locally.
RAM and Storage to Match the Ambition
To support that level of processing power, the memory and storage are equally impressive. The Apex will support up to 128GB of RAM, with a massive 96GB of that available as VRAM for the most demanding games and AI models. It’s worth noting that given the current market, we may see the initial models launch with less, with the 128GB option becoming available later due to potential component shortages.
On the storage front, it features dual SSD slots. Internally, you get a standard M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 slot. This is complemented by an external PCIe 4.0 Mini slot, which supports the new BIWIN Mini SSD format (a format we first saw on the GPD WIN 5 and reviewed here). This dual-slot setup is fantastic for easy swaps, future-proof upgrades, and gives users the ability to install large local AI models without sacrificing their main game library.
Unleashing 120W of Power
A 120W chip would drain any normal handheld battery in minutes. ONEXPLAYER’s solution is an 85Wh external battery, similar to the GPD WIN 5’s approach. This clearly positions the Apex as a device that values maximum performance, even if it means relying on an external power source.
However, that up to 120W TDP figure comes may come with a major catch. We expect this level of power will only be accessible when the device is connected to the external water-cooling solution, which we’ll get to next. When running in pure handheld mode, we would guess the TDP will be limited to a much more manageable (though still very high) 55W or 80W.
Chilled to the Core: The Water-Cooling Dock
To manage the massive heat generated by a 120W TDP, the ONEXPLAYER ONEXFLY Apex will feature support for external water cooling. This is a radical departure from traditional handheld cooling systems and signals a clear focus on docked, desktop-replacement performance.
Our own theory on this is that it won’t be a clunky, portable AIO cooler but rather an integrated feature of a dedicated docking station. This would make perfect sense, as you are only going to be using that 120W mode when plugged into mains power anyway. Such a dock would also likely provide outputs to a TV or monitor, additional USB ports, and maybe even extra SSD storage, effectively turning the Apex into a full-fledged, high-performance desktop PC.
What’s Your Take on This Handheld Monster?
The Apex is pushing the very definition of a “handheld.” But what do you think? Is this the future of portable gaming, or is an external battery and water cooling a step too far? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
