Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution – The Verge

I held the next-gen handheld

2026-06-03T12:24:23-04:00

The new MSI Claw with Intel Arc G3 Extreme. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Intel couldn't catch a break. Layoffs. Shakedowns. Crashing CPUs torpedoing its reputation, sending desktop gamers fleeing to AMD. Apple and Qualcomm pushing Intel out of multiple flagship laptops. A gaming graphics card going MIA. But its Panther Lake laptop chip, the first on its all-important 18A process, turned out excellent - and a handheld version might make Intel the leader in portable gaming chips.

On Monday, I spent two hours with an MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus handheld atop Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme. I walked away thinking that next-gen handhelds have finally arrived. The true leap in performance and battery life we've been waiting for …

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Asus just announced the OLED Xbox Ally X of my dreams

2026-06-01T06:05:38-04:00

The Xbox Ally X20, and the glasses you’ll have to buy with it. | Image: Asus

If you asked me what I'd change about the Xbox Ally X handheld - aside from fixing Windows, I mean - I'd tell you two key things.

First, give me a bigger, better screen. Even a little bit bigger, so games feel less claustrophobic and with less ugly bezel. Second, get rid of the "Library" button. I am so tired of an accidental press booting me out of my game and into the Xbox library without a simple way to get back.

With the just-announced ROG Xbox Ally X20, Asus did both - and then some. It's now a slick translucent handheld with drift-resistant GuliKit TMR joysticks, a transforming D-pad that goes from 8-way to 4-way by dropping its cor …

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Intel’s first handheld gaming chip is the Arc G3, and this Acer is using it

2026-05-31T22:49:21-04:00

There’s a brand-new Intel chip underneath this render. | Image: Acer

Intel is barely in the handheld gaming PC space - but that might be about to change. After the embarrassment that was the first MSI Claw and the excellent MSI Claw 8 AI Plus that followed it, Intel said it would create custom handheld gaming chips. Today, it's formally announcing them as the Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme.

There's a lot we don't know about the chips, but Intel's confirming today that the Panther Lake variant contains two fewer CPU cores than Intel's Panther Lake laptop chips, but feature a full compliment of Xe3 GPU cores to run games. (They have 2 P-cores, 8 E-eores, and 4 LP E-cores, plus up to 12 Xe3 graphics cores in total.)

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The golden age of handheld gaming is already over

2026-05-28T02:30:23-04:00

For a few glorious years, a $399 portable gadget could run almost anything you'd want to play. In 2022, the Steam Deck finally made PC gaming portable and affordable. I played through the vast majority of Elden Ring on a Steam Deck, agape that such a rich world could comfortably fit between my two hands.

Today, that Steam Deck experience starts at $789 - nearly double the price.

Similarly, a Nintendo Switch cost $299 at launch - but after Nintendo's Switch 2 upgrades and "changes in market conditions," the starting price of today's Nintendo handheld gaming experience will soon be $499, more than a disc-less PS5 cost at launch.

You mig …

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Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200

2026-05-27T13:47:36-04:00

Valve has significantly increased the price of the Steam Deck - but now, it's also in stock. The 512GB Steam Deck OLED now costs $789, up from $549, while the 1TB model costs $949, up from $649. As I write this, both models are available to buy on Steam with an estimated delivery date of three to five business days.

The company says the price increase is because of "rising memory and storage costs." Nothing about the Steam Deck has changed, but "these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. We'll keep you updated if anything changes."

Some refurbished St …

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Valve launches the Steam Controller without the Steam Machine

2026-04-27T13:24:04-04:00

Last November, Valve introduced the world to its new vision of living room gaming: the Steam Machine and Steam Controller. Then, RAMageddon. Memory shortages forced Valve to delay all its hardware and reset expectations.

Now, Valve is releasing the Steam Controller without the Steam Machine.

The Steam Controller is officially going on sale May 4th at 1PM ET for $99 USD, $149 CAD, $149 AUD, £85 in the UK and €99 in the EU. We've already spent two weeks with the pad paired to our Steam Decks and gaming desktops, and you can read reviews from my colleagues Jay Peters and Cameron Faulkner right now. It's pretty great!

What about the Steam Ma …

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The Lenovo Legion Go S is RAMageddon’s latest victim

2026-04-20T19:17:42-04:00

You can still find the Asus Xbox Ally X and the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus for $999 and $1,049 respectively, but Lenovo's Legion Go S has seemingly given up the fight. The best version of Lenovo's 8-inch handheld now costs nearly double what it did at launch - originally $829.99 last summer, the SteamOS version with Z1 Extreme chip now costs a staggering $1,579.99 at Best Buy.

That's an even bigger price hike than with Lenovo's flagship Legion Go 2, which saw up to a $650 price hike early this month.

Not every Legion Go S model costs nearly double what it did before, but none are anywhere near what they originally cost. The Windows Z1 Extreme mo …

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Lenovo Legion Go 2 suddenly costs $650 more as RAMageddon lays waste to gaming hardware

2026-04-03T16:36:15-04:00

The Legion Go 2’s mouse mode, unique among Windows handhelds. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Remember when we thought the Legion Go 2 was expensive at $1,099 and up? Those were the days - Best Buy is now listing Lenovo's handheld for $1,499 with a Ryzen Z2 or $1,999 with a Z2 Extreme. The latter originally cost $1,349, so that's a $650 jump in just six months.

And yes, that means Lenovo's flagship may now cost twice as much as a $999 Microsoft/Asus Xbox Ally X with the same AMD chip, as much as a far more powerful GPD Win 5 with AMD Strix Halo cost last year. But the way things are going, it's probably only a matter of time till Microsoft hikes its handheld Xbox price too. (For now, Asus rep Anthony Spence tells me there's "no pric …

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Valve’s huge SteamOS 3.8 update adds long-awaited features — and supports Steam Machine

2026-03-19T21:16:18-04:00

Valve has just released SteamOS 3.8.0 in preview, and it's a doozy.

Not only is it the first release to support the upcoming Steam Machine living room gaming PC, it comes with long-awaited features for Valve's handhelds and more support for other companies' handhelds than we've seen to date - including Microsoft and Asus' Xbox Ally series, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, the OneXPlayer X1, and additional support for MSI, GPD, Anbernic, OrangePi, and Zotac.

The one that excites me most: Valve is adding genuine hibernation and "memory power down" modes to the Steam Deck - though just the LCD model to start - which should help extend battery life w …

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Qualcomm won’t be announcing Windows gaming handhelds at GDC after all

2026-02-26T16:28:06-05:00

In January, Qualcomm hinted to The Verge that it might finally bring its powerful Arm-based Snapdragon processors to Windows gaming handhelds at the 2026 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco - just in time to challenge Nvidia's own first Arm gaming CPU and Intel's first dedicated handheld gaming chips.

But plans have shifted, Qualcomm now tells me. It won't announce any updates to its Snapdragon G Series gaming chips there, nor offer the recently announced updates to the Snapdragon X line for journalists to try or benchmark.

"Snapdragon X Series and Snapdragon G Series processors are pushing the PC, desktop, and handheld gaming dev …

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