“Attributable to modifications in U.S. tariff insurance policies, we will probably be suspending all orders transport from China to the US beginning immediately,” writes Anbernic. “We strongly advocate prioritizing merchandise shipped from our U.S. warehouse, that are at the moment not affected by import duties and could be bought with confidence.”
No, Anbernic didn’t arrange a brand-new US warehouse in response to tariffs — it’s been an possibility on its storefront for a while. Typically, Anbernic begins by drop-shipping every new handheld from China on to consumers’ properties after they’re launched, then stockpiles further models in US warehouses for sooner ship occasions. Anbernic lets consumers choose which warehouse they like on its checkout web page.
As of final week, Anbernic had already begun suggesting that US consumers choose its US warehouse as a result of “orders shipped to the US could also be topic to excessive customs duties,” asking prospects to “take this potential danger under consideration when making your buy choices.”
However now, the corporate is suspending these shipments solely — equally to how acclaimed retro sport scaler maker RetroTINK suspended shipments not simply due to tariffs, however “resulting from lack of steerage on how tariffs will probably be collected.” I checked: when you can nonetheless add a Anbernic handheld to your US cart from a Chinese language warehouse, the corporate presents loads of warnings and received’t allow you to buy it from there.
One purpose for Anbernic’s reputation is that its retro handhelds are low-cost, usually round $70 for the most recent fashions. (Some additionally do a wonderful job emulating the feel and appear of traditional Nintendo handhelds, as you possibly can see in my movies above and beneath.) However these low costs at the moment are utterly below risk by Trump’s tariffs and the elimination of the de minimis exemption for reasonable Chinese language items. It’s not clear if or how corporations like Anbernic may afford to renew shipments, ought to these tariffs really take maintain.
In the intervening time, Anbernic handhelds are additionally nonetheless out there within the US by way of third-party sellers like Amazon — which I’ve at all times discovered stunning on condition that these ones usually include Nintendo, Sega and Sony ROMs.