Asus is already refreshing its ROG Ally handheld. One of the first Steam Deck competitors out of the stalls, the ROG Ally has made a name for itself as a device that is so close to greatness but falls short in key areas. The ROG Ally X hopes to correct some of these concerns.
According to The Verge, the device is not to be considered a ‘ROG Ally 2’. Rather, it’s an updating of the existing model to give it just a little more oomph. Even then, some components, like its AMD Z1 Extreme chipset and the 7-inch 48–120Hz VRR screen will remain unchanged.
What is changing is the battery, and that’s a good thing. The battery life in the Asus ROG Ally was one of its most complained-about data points, boasting a fairly abysmal 1.5 hour uptime when playing intensive games. That number makes sense placed against the kind of hardware it has to power but you still hope for more, especially when you’re travelling. According to The Verge, Asus wants to cram a considerably larger battery into its revised black shell. It was not, however, able to extract any concrete numbers from the Asus PR on hand to demo it. Asked what he’d like to see, senior editor Sean Hollister said he’d like to see Asus double that 1.5-hour playtime. PR assured him it would exceed that expectation. Make of that what you will — those kinds of stats are often pulled from lower power modes to fluff the numbers.
Indeed, part of Hollister’s interview includes a quote that reveals Asus didn’t think people would make quite such a fuss about the battery. “When we launched [the original Ally], we didn’t have such a clear understanding that the battery might be something people desire more than a lighter-weight device,” the PR told him. I don’t know how battery life isn’t something you think the audience might want when you’re making a handheld, but there you are.
Beyond this, details seems fairly thin on the ground. The Verge’s report expects a jump in RAM for GPU allocation and a M.2 2280 SSD slot, so you can expand its storage with larger SSD’s than the current model allows.
Because of the changes to its hardware and that larger battery, Asus says the ROG Ally X will carry a higher price point than the current model, but stopped short of putting a number on it. That does mean the original model, which has recently been discounted heavily around the traps, will continue going for a little cheaper.
The Asus ROG Ally X will be out later this year and Asus says it will talk about it more during Summer Game Fest on June 2. We’ll let you know full Australian pricing, spec and release details when we have them.
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