Xbox Ally Gaming Handheld Price Could Be Higher Than Expected, Leak Suggests

CNET

a day ago

The ROG Xbox Ally handheld gaming device from Asus and Microsoft debuted last month, and there were a lot of questions about the new portable. The big question about price might have been answered by a leak, and it looks like this handheld won't be cheap.
A Google search screenshot showed a listing for the Xbox Ally and upgraded Ally X at €599 and €899, as first spotted by Spanish gaming site 3DJuegos on Sunday and reported by Insider Gaming. This would put the Xbox Ally at approximately $698 and the Ally X at approximately $1,048.
Microsoft and Asus didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
While this might be the EU price, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be the US price. When the Xbox Series X launched back in Nov. 2020, the US price was $499 while the EU price was €499, which would have converted to approximately $588 at the time. It's common for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to keep the same price across the different common Western currencies such as dollars, euros and British pounds.
There is, however, a big concern with the Xbox Ally and that involves tariffs. Microsoft already increased the Xbox Series console prices in May due to Trump tariffs. China has been the main trading partner affected by the tariffs, as most other countries were part of a 90-day pause Trump declared back in April, only days after revealing his plan. That pause will seemingly come to an end on Aug. 1, and one country that could be affected is Vietnam, where a lot of electronic devices are made.
The Xbox Ally's price of $599 would align with the ROG Ally's price of $700, which was released in 2023. The ROG Ally X came out in 2024 for $800.
The Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X could be big competition for the Steam Deck, which currently dominates the handheld market. A flaw in the original ROG Ally and other Windows-based portable devices is that Windows is not optimized for a handheld device, unlike SteamOS for the Steam Deck. This means the Windows handhelds can come off as laggy when booting up games and sluggish while playing, even though they have better processors and more memory. The Xbox Ally looks to provide an Xbox-like experience by incorporating the console's UI into the device. An early look at the device suggests the new UI will be a welcome improvement over just the standard Windows 11 setup.
Both the Xbox Ally and Ally X are expected to launch later this year, most likely during the holiday period.