Featured Image Credit: Xbox/Asus
The handheld console market is one of the more competitive areas in video games right now, and it seems like every major tech company is coming out with their own version to blow away other portable PC gaming hardware.
Xbox is no exception to that, with the Xbox Rog Ally and Ally X both confirmed as on the way in October, with a ton of integration features for those who already own an Xbox console, or those who subscribe to Game Pass.
The price of those consoles has remained a mystery up to now (and it still does, officially) but leaks have begun to emerge from major retailers that should give us an accurate representation of what to expect.
Over on Reddit, one user shared a price list from upcoming pre-orders available at Argos in the UK. That included the standard Ally version of the console being priced at a genuinely fairly reasonable £499.99, which roughly lines up with previous rumours we've had from retailers in the USA.
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Though the price is by no means one of the most expensive handhelds out there, many were unhappy considering the specs contained within.
"Ouch, this thing was tempting for gamepass but at that price with a poorer screen than a steam deck I'm not so sure," one said.
"Just ordered a Legion Go S because it was £300. Looks like I made the right choice because a quick Google search tells me the SoC is better in that than the Xbox Ally," another added.
Others think that the market conditions in the USA, where Xbox is based, could be affecting prices elsewhere, "My speculation: the tariff situation might be impacting Microsoft's decision making here. If I remember correctly consoles are included in the tariffs but computers are excluded for now. I wonder what these handheld things are considered since they are an Xbox (this might explain why we don't have pricing yet when we really should)."
A final group have an even more bleak outlook on things, with some claiming that there isn't really a handheld out there that's worth buying right now (with the possible exception of the Switch 2). One said, "I love my Steam Deck but I feel like despite the many variations and power differences these uber strong PC handhelds are still ultimately going to be running late PS4-PS5 era games at 30-40fps, while being massive loud battery hogs. I don't see the point right now until a major evolution comes along."
Whatever does happen, the competition in this specific area of the market should hopefully lead to rapid improvements in their capabilities. After that, it'll just be a case of getting the prices down, which is admittedly a bit of a pipe dream right now.
