Xbox Reveal New Details on the ROG Xbox Ally (X), Releases October 16th, Possible Price Leaked

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Xbox just shared a few new details about the ROG Xbox Ally / Ally X in their gamescom broadcast. After reiterating the tech specs of each, which I will list below, they also went on to say that there will be some form of a "Steam Deck Verified" system on the Xbox app in Windows. Namely, games will be listed as "handheld optimized" if they have correct controller support and quality of life features such as onscreen keyboard support to help handheld players, as well as good UI scaling.

Finally, they did confirm that the handhelds would be launching on October 16th, 2025.

If you use the Xbox app on PC at all, you will also be familiar with the "tags" that say whether a game is expected to run well, based on your device's specifications. This applies to the new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, too. A game that runs "Well" on your device is expected to hit 30 FPS on your handheld, whereas games that run "Great" should run at 60 FPS.

On the software side of things, the new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds will be making use of Windows and ASUS's Armoury Crate app, so it should be a very similar experience to what you currently have on the original ROG Ally.

Xbox are also working with developers to optimize games for the handhelds, leaving players with less to do in terms of tweaking settings. They also plan to work in a similar shader caching system that the Steam Deck has, allowing players to download shaders for their games in advance, reducing any shader compilation stutter you might experience in-game.

The X variant of the handheld is also getting an AI upscaler, which works on a system level, independent of games.

And here are the technical specifications for each handheld:

ROG Xbox Ally:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen Z2 A
• Display: 7" 720p 120Hz, VRR supported
• 16GB Memory
• 512GB Storage
• 60Wh Battery

ROG Xbox Ally X:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme
• Display: 7" 1080p 120Hz, VRR supported
• 24GB Memory
• 1TB Storage
• 80Wh Battery
• Impulse Triggers with Haptic feedback

Unlike the ROG Ally, the ROG Xbox Ally consoles appear to boot straight into the Xbox application, allowing a gamepad-controllable UI from the get-go. It also seemingly doesn't boot every Windows application/process that a normal desktop PC would, to provide a more optimized experience, using 2GB less Memory than a standard Windows PC.

The Xbox app will also have the ability to draw in games from Steam, Battle.net, Xbox, and other storefronts to display them all in one launcher.

There is also a leaked price going around for the ROG Xbox Ally of $549, and the ROG Xbox Ally X of $899. We can't confirm if these are indeed the final prices, but they would fall in line with expectations.

If you want to check out a 4-minute video on the handhelds, you can do so below:

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