Meet ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X – Microsoft teamed up with ASUS to co-develop the new handheld lineup, and to align with its latest wave of “This Is An Xbox” marketing campaign, the company essentially labeled both handhelds as Xboxes. Basically, anything that plays Xbox games is an Xbox.
ASUS ROG Xbox Ally / Ally X
The ROG Xbox Ally (white model) and ROG Xbox Ally X (black model) feature a redesigned chassis with a shape more consistent to an actual Xbox controller with gamepad-style contours and textured grips, albeit with a 7-inch 120Hz FHD IPS screen attached in between. The Ally X in particular also includes impulse triggers for enhanced haptic feedback in compatible games. Games can be played on both handhelds in several ways – natively, through cloud gaming, or remotely through a nearby Xbox console.
Both handhelds are powered by two new handheld-specific processors just announced by AMD. The ROG Xbox Ally is equipped with the AMD Ryzen Z2 A, and despite its new name, the innards are admittedly quite old, with 4 Zen2-based CPU cores and 8 RDNA2-based compute units running at 6-20W TDP, similar to Steam Deck’s custom ‘Van Gogh’ chip. Other specs include 16GB LPDDR5X-6400 RAM, 512GB SSD, and a 60Wh battery capacity.
As for the X model, it uses the newly-announced AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor – not to be confused with Ryzen Z2 Extreme – which includes an NPU onboard to support upcoming AI functionalities, although as far as gamers are concerned right now, it is functionally identical to regular Z2 Extreme chip (which lacks NPU). For this model, the Ryzen chip is paired with 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, along with 1TB SSD storage and a larger 80Wh battery, as well as USB4 support.
The new handhelds introduce a full-screen Xbox software interface on top of the native Windows 11 UI, as Microsoft aims to fix one of its major pain points among Windows-based handhelds (and Linux is gaining significant traction thanks to Valve’s Steam Deck ever since). This software includes quick access features, settings, and widgets navigable via joystick or buttons, while retaining the Windows operating system to tap into virtually unlimited number of games available on PC platforms.
The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X will be available during the 2025 holiday season in selected markets including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and several countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia – unfortunately, Malaysia is not among the list, so no pricing information is available at this time.
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