Microsoft’s Xbox Ally Handheld: $600 Steam Deck Rival Coming in 2025
▼ Summary
– The ROG Xbox Ally costs $600 while the ROG Xbox Ally X costs $1,000, which is significantly more expensive than the Steam Deck priced at $319.
– The base ROG Xbox Ally uses an older AMD Ryzen Z2 A chip, which has the same specifications as the processor found in the original 2022 Steam Deck.
– The device features a 1080p 120Hz LCD screen, but the aging chip is considered too underpowered to run demanding games effectively at those higher settings.
– The ROG Xbox Ally X uses the newer AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, but the author argues it is not a major performance leap and still offers mediocre performance for its high price.
– The author concludes that both ROG Xbox Ally models represent poor value, strongly favoring the much cheaper Steam Deck for meeting expectations at a lower cost.
The upcoming ROG Xbox Ally handheld gaming device has been priced at $600 for the base model, positioning it as a direct competitor to Valve’s Steam Deck. This announcement confirms earlier speculation about Microsoft’s entry into the portable gaming hardware market, with a premium model, the ROG Xbox Ally X, slated to cost a substantial $1,000. Both devices are expected to launch in 2025, creating a new front in the battle for handheld gaming dominance.
Under the hood, the standard ROG Xbox Ally is powered by an AMD Ryzen Z2 A system-on-a-chip. Despite the modern-sounding name, this processor is not a new design. It features four CPU cores based on the older Zen 2 architecture and eight RDNA 2 graphics compute units. These specifications are identical to the custom AMD APU found in the original 2022 Steam Deck and its subsequent OLED revision. With Valve recently reducing the price of the 256GB LCD Steam Deck to just $319, the performance parity makes the ROG Xbox Ally’s price tag a significant point of contention.
Microsoft and its hardware partner, Asus, will likely emphasize the device’s superior display as a key differentiator. The ROG Xbox Ally boasts a 1080p screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a clear step up from the Steam Deck’s 720p, 60Hz panel. However, the screen technology remains LCD, not OLED, and critics argue that the aging Z2 A chip lacks the graphical muscle to run demanding games smoothly at the display’s native resolution and high refresh rate. The device also includes a 512GB SSD and runs a custom Xbox-skinned version of Windows 11, presenting an alternative to SteamOS.
The high-end ROG Xbox Ally X model upgrades to the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, which is AMD’s latest APU for handhelds, identified as the Strix Point chip. While newer, this APU is still manufactured on TSMC’s N4 process node, offering only an incremental performance boost over its predecessors rather than a generational leap. Many industry observers believe a truly significant performance upgrade for handhelds will require a shift to a more advanced 3nm manufacturing process.
When comparing value, the proposition is challenging. Paying $600 for the base Ally gets you a better screen but the same core gaming performance as a device costing less than half the price. The $1,000 Ally X offers only modestly improved performance for a premium cost. For gamers seeking value, the Steam Deck presents a compelling alternative, allowing for lower financial investment with managed expectations. The pricing strategy for the ROG Xbox Ally series has raised questions about its competitive positioning ahead of its 2025 release.
(Source: PC Gamer)
