Asus released the video embedded below on April 1st announcing the ROG Ally Gaming handheld. Given the date, many customers wonder if the product is real. This is supported by the fact that the handheld is already in the US online shop Best Buy is listed, and that Asus on April 2nd another tweet released on the ROG Ally.
The video, which doesn’t take itself seriously at all, would rather speak for an April Fool’s joke. At least technically there is nothing wrong with bringing the ROG Ally onto the market. Because according to the announcement video, the gaming handheld has a very simple design, with a white housing, front-facing stereo speakers and a subtle RGB LED strip on the back. Inside, “the fastest” APU to date, which was developed together with AMD, is said to be working, similar to the case with the Steam Deck.
Customers should be able to access all their game libraries – no wonder, because the ROG Ally relies on Windows. Asus speaks of a bright 1080p display and a particularly quiet cooling system with two fans. The trailer mentions “games from different platforms”, while showing the Xbox app. If you need even more gaming power, you can connect the Asus ROG XG Mobile eGPU, which is even available with a GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU for around 2,500 euros. It remains to be seen whether the Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld will actually be launched, as Asus has not yet given any details on price or availability.
Since 2009 I have been writing for various publications in the technology sector until I joined the Notebookcheck news department in 2018. Since then I have combined my many years of experience in the field of notebooks and smartphones with my lifelong passion for technology to inform our readers about new developments on the market. My design background as art director of an agency also allows me deep insights into the peculiarities of this industry.