Today, Microsoft and Asus have officially announced the opening of preorders for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X at $599 and $999 respectively in the US. The prices in other regions are as follows: $799 CAD and $1299 CAD in Canada, €599 and €899 in Europe, £499 and £799 in the UK, and $799 AUD and $1599 AUD in Australia. Both models are set to ship on October 16th.
The pricing of these new Xbox handhelds can be viewed in various ways. Compared to traditional console pricing, Microsoft’s first Xbox handhelds come at a premium. The base model Xbox Ally is $150 more expensive than the Switch 2 and $100 more than the more powerful Xbox Series X at launch in the US. In Europe and the UK, the lower-end Ally is priced the same as an Xbox Series X.
However, for PC gamers or those aspiring to be one, the outlook is more positive. These “Xbox” handhelds will be the first to run on a new version of Windows that optimizes gaming performance by allocating more memory to games and providing controller-friendly navigation.
The pricing of handheld gaming devices has been steadily increasing, with high-end models now costing as much as gaming laptops. At $999, the Xbox Ally X competes with models like the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus and the Lenovo Legion Go 2, offering similar performance with its AMD Z2 Extreme chip and praised ergonomic design.
Choosing the $599 Ally introduces a wildcard factor, as it features a unique Ryzen Z2 A processor similar to the one in the Steam Deck, designed for lower performance gaming with 4 Zen 2 CPU cores and 8 RDNA 2 GPU cores.
Stay tuned for our reviews of the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X in the upcoming weeks.
Microsoft has announced that the devices will be available in various countries and will expand to more regions in the future.
