Gamescom is live in Cologne, Germany from August 20th through the 24th, and it’s riddled with massive announcements and demos available for those lucky enough to make it to the conventions. One of the most highly anticipated items featured at Gamescom is Xbox’s handheld in partnership with ASUS and Windows, the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X.
In a recorded video and in-person interview and demo, the team at Xbox discussed both performance, compatibility and various other features. Below are the specs for both the Ally and Ally X:
ROG Xbox Ally versus ROG Xbox Ally X:
- Ally and Ally X: 7 inches IPS
- Ally: 720 P vs. Ally X: 1080P
- Ally and Ally X: 120 HZ; 120 FPS VRR enabled
- Ally: AMD RYZEN Z2A APU vs. Ally X: AMD RYZEN AI Z2 EXTREME
- Ally: 16 GB memory vs. Ally X: 24 GB
- Ally: 512 GB storage vs. Ally X: 1 TB
- Ally: 60 WHR vs. Ally X: 80 WHR battery
There will be a Command Center, where you can fine tune device settings in the such as button mapping and optimizing battery life. There are three settings: silent mode, performance mode, and turbo mode, depending on your preference on experience.
In addition to seamless transition from playing on your console to this handheld, there is flexibility to customizing your experience. There will be indicators for your games as follows:
- Operating at 30 FPS and above: “Should perform well on your device”
- Operating at 60 FPS and above: “Should perform great on your device”
- Other: “Performance check not available yet”
These labels will evolve over time as more games are tested and *optimized for handheld. Games will also be labeled Handheld Optimized if they pass a series of checks such as screen and font size, controller functionality, and whether *prompts and UI elements are working as intended. The device will provide a curated feature of titles that pass this Handheld Optimized checklist.
Other notable features include a shared library that will bring your entire game collection together. You can view these storefronts, such as Steam, GOG, Epic, and more, under the App section. There will also be a most recently played banner at the top of your home screen, all in the name of a unified user experience.
Dominique Gordon, Senior Product Manager lead for Xbox, Gabriel Meng, Director of Product Gaming for Asus, and Brianna Potvin, Principal Software Engineer Lead for Xbox, spoke more about the handhelds right on the Gamescom show floor with host GottaBeHenry. Dominique expressed the ROG Xbox Ally is the “natural next step for Xbox” and by partnering with ASUS, they can grant players the power of Xbox and the freedom of Windows. She also stressed that this is just the beginning–Xbox has quite the roadmap for future enhancements.
Gabriel discussed the hardware, first going over the ergonomics of the ROG Xbox Ally. The grips are meant to provide comfort and the familiarity of the Xbox controller; however, he also didn’t want it to feel like you split a controller in half and stuck a screen on the middle, so your arms aren’t splayed out. He also stated there are impulse triggers fitted for the ROG Xbox Ally X.
Dominque then explained how Windows on the ROG Xbox Ally would be optimized for gaming in three primary features. She outlined that there will be a full screen experience right from launching the device and deferred Windows processes not required for gaming, which in turn, will give more memory back to your games. The second feature is an aggregated library, and finally, the Play Anywhere feature which currently has over 1000 games. This carries over all your progress, achievements etc from your console or PC to your Ally. Another interesting feature mentioned was a type of power AI that serves as a game guide you can call upon to assist you while playing.
Brianna powered the ROG Xbox Ally to give a quick demo. She explained the various sign-on features, including a fingerprint reader on the power button. Once logged in, we go straight to the Xbox App, which showed recently played games (as mentioned above) and featured games. We also got to see the Library Button, displaying all your games regardless of storefront. Brianna also showed a feature where you can bumper between gaming and the Windows Desktop.
Now, the real importation information: when will it release and how much will it cost? Brianna confirmed the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X will release October 16th, 2025! While the price wasn’t discussed in the showing, listings began to appear online (prices below are in USD). Please note that pre-orders are NOT live yet at the time of this writing:
- Xbox ROG Ally: $549.99
- Xbox ROG Ally X: $899.99
- 100W Charger Dock: $99.99
- Case: $69.9
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