The long-rumoured Xbox handheld has been formally revealed during the June 2025 Xbox Games Showcase. Microsoft has partnered with well-known hardware manufacturer Asus, to deliver the new ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X—what Microsoft is dubbing the “first Xbox handheld.”
Designed for Play Anywhere
Not only can games running on the new ROG Xbox Ally devices literally make use of the ‘Xbox Play Anywhere’ functionality (buy a game from the Xbox Store on PC or console and play it on any compatible device,) but these new handhelds have also been designed to be played practically anywhere.
The handheld design allows players to game on-the-go, in addition to just lounging on the couch or in bed. Remote play functionality from an Xbox console is supported, along with cloud gaming compatibility and, of course, native gameplay capabilities.
While the Steam Deck runs SteamOS, which is built on top of Linux, the ROG Xbox Ally devices sport an optimised rendition of Windows 11. The Xbox Game Bar, which has been an evolving feature of the Windows suite for several years, is front and centre on the new handhelds. All the functionality added to it thus far has been retained, along with the device settings, opening apps, and more.
Even though Microsoft emphasises that these handhelds are running Windows 11, none of the new promo material features the Windows UI as we know it. Instead, Microsoft describes the OS functionality like this:
Because these handhelds run Windows, you have access to games you can’t get elsewhere, so you can enjoy the full freedom and versatility of PC gaming—download games from your favourite storefront, run apps like Discord, watch your favourite streamers on Twitch, and play with mods—all straight from the Xbox experience. The choice is yours.
Further explanation describes the “Xbox full screen experience,” which is “a new feature optimised specifically for handheld gaming.” It has been designed to prioritise system resources for gameplay, much like a traditional console OS would.
As it stands, there’s no explicit mention of being able to boot into the full, desktop-oriented version of Windows like some other PC handhelds are very well already capable of. At the very least, other storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store will be supported. “Players will see their aggregated gaming library” within the “Xbox full experience,” says Microsoft.
The power of two
As mentioned before, players will have the choice of two flavours of the new Xbox handheld: either the ROG Xbox Ally or the Ally X. The latter is the more powerful (and undoubtedly more significantly expensive) of the two.
Both rock the AMD Ryzen Z2 A CPU, but the Ally X has the ”AI Z2 Extreme” variant. 16 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM are in the Xbox Ally, whereas the Ally X gets bumped to 24 GB of the same type.
Across both options, you’ll get an M.2 SSD that can be user-upgraded; the Xbox Ally features 512 GB out of the box, whereas the Ally X gets the full 1 TB loadout. Screens are exactly the same across both machines, that being a 7″ 1080p IPS panel with a peak brightness of 500 nits and 120hz refresh rate. The panel also has FreeSync Premium support, essentially meaning it’s capable of variable refresh rate.
In terms of I/O, the Xbox Ally sports 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C that can perform video output via DisplayPort 2.1. Power Delivery 3.0 functionality is even on-board for fast charging. On the Ally X, there’s only 1 USB 4 Type-C port, but it also features DisplayPort 2.1 and Power Delivery 3.0 capabilities. It does have the added advantage of Thunderbolt 4 compatibility, and, in theory, should allow it to make use of an external GPU should the user choose.
Only the Ally X features microSD card support, however they both include a headphone jack, Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 6E. The battery of the Ally X is also slightly bigger at 80Wh, whereas the Xbox Ally comes in at 60Wh.
Closing out the year
Both the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X will be releasing by the end of the year, just in time for the holiday season, says Microsoft. Pricing information is, rather curiously, coming at a later date.
Considering that Microsoft just quietly upped the prices of its in-house Xbox hardware just back in May, it will be very interesting to see where this new fleet of devices will fall in the family.
For what it’s worth, the cheapest variant of the existing Asus ROG Ally is going for $649.99 USD as of the time of writing. It wouldn’t be too surprising if these new Xbox-branded models landed somewhere within this range. If so, they’ll be significantly more expensive than the newly-released Nintendo Switch 2, which continues to hold its competitive price of $449.99.
