Asus Hopes The ‘ROG Ally X’ Can Compete In opposition to the Steam Deck

The Asus ROG Ally is barely a yr previous, however the gaming handheld constructed to rival the Steam Deck (at the least, the one which got here the closest to dethroning Valve’s handheld goliath) is coming again with an improve. Particulars are relatively sparse, however the replace may embody a brand new coat of paint, higher storage, extra RAM, and—maybe most significantly for customers—a microSD slot that received’t destroy your playing cards.

The large query for Asus is, even with the improve, can it try to defeat Valve’s personal Deck refresh with that rattling fairly OLED show. In a stream from the ROG headquarters, Asus reps mentioned that on July 2, the corporate would reveal an “ROG Ally X.” Is it a refresh? Not precisely? A brand new console? Not fairly. The senior supervisor of promoting at ROG, Whitson Gordon, mentioned on the stream that it’s someplace in between, although will probably be “constructed for the fanatic who needs a bit further.”

The brand new console can have the identical AMD Z1 Excessive APU and VRR show, nevertheless it may see huge enhancements to storage, RAM, and different “bodily adjustments.” The Ally X may have a greater battery, and “not by slightly bit,” in accordance with Gordon.

As for an precise reveal, we’ll have to attend till June 2 throughout Computex. The pair did spell out a number of new enhancements in what’s being referred to as Armory Crate SE 1.5, which can even come to the unique Ally.

The sequel, or actually the refresh to the ROG Ally, had already been hinted at within the weeks main thus far. Videocardz has already reported that Asus plans to share the brand new handheld console at Computex in Taiwan subsequent month. Hell, Asus itself already hinted at its new handheld earlier this month in a tweet, as first famous by The Verge. The brand new Ally may have a black veneer as an alternative of a white one. Due to the colour shift, the brand new Ally may look relatively near an MSI Claw, which, funnily sufficient, already bore a putting resemblance to Asus’ design.

We weren’t actually anticipating something too huge from ROG. In spite of everything, it’s solely been slightly greater than a yr because the firm first introduced the Ally. Nonetheless, a brand new console with a greater battery life could be a big enchancment, particularly contemplating the Steam Deck OLED additionally acquired an upgraded battery together with the brand new show.

Regardless of preliminary critiques on Asus’ handheld being largely optimistic (particularly after a number of months of updates), Ally customers began reporting a significant subject with the {hardware} that may primarily bake your SD card reader, which may additionally harm the microSD card inside. The corporate has since expanded the guarantee on its handheld with an additional promise to reimburse customers for broken playing cards. Nonetheless, as The Verge first reported earlier this month, that hasn’t assured the SD card reader received’t malfunction sooner or later.

The unique Steam Deck was additionally largely unfinished on launch however didn’t endure as main a {hardware} failure as Asus did. Since then, there’s been an explosion of latest handheld consoles from a motley of smaller corporations like Ayaneo and main OEMs like Lenovo with its Legion Go. There’s by no means been extra handhelds accessible in the marketplace right now. If you wish to see all these launched just lately or which are but to come back out, this helpful doc on the r/SBCGaming subreddit exhibits you what number of consoles are at present in the marketplace. Clearly, that market’s solely going to get greater.