Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

It ’s no surprisal that Asus is already working on the next generation of its play handheld , theROG Ally — but I never expected it to be this tight . According to Asus , the next - gen ROG Ally is likely to be released this year . That might finger a little rushed , but it ’s great sign for the future of handhelds .

Oftentimes , when news like this comes out , it ’s a rumour or a leak that you ca n’t be sure about . However , this clock time , the information comes directly from the source . Asus India ’s vice chairman for consumer and gaming PC , Arnold Su , toldTechlusivein an audience that the second - gen handheld is “ most probable ” coming this year .

Starfield running on the Asus ROG Ally.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

“ We most probably will launch a second - coevals [ handheld gambling console ] this class , ” say Su . Given that the first - gen exemplar came out in mid-2023 , that would make for , at most , a class - and - a - half between the two releases . We do n’t know what all will be in this unexampled manakin , but that feel dangerously quick .

Do n’t get me faulty , the ROG Ally is a killer handheld , and it ply performance that the Steam Deck can only stargaze about . Butthese pocket-sized , portable gambling personal computer are n’t just about raw numbersand frame rate they can put out in AAA games — it ’s about the entire experience , and this is where the Asus handheld runs into issue .

The Asus ROG Ally , while powerful ( in huge part thanks to AMD ’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme check ) , is not without fault . Even months after the release , the gimmick was consume an takings with fry up microSD cards . The user experience constituent is a little lackingwhen compared to the Steam Deck , too . It ’s not even just the fact that the Ally run on Windows 11 — that ’s not inherently a sorry thing ; if anything , it makes it more versatile than the Steam Deck . However , some tone - of - life update could make the user interface easier to interact with . In our review , we ’ve also plant that its 720p carrying into action can be discrepant , and it ’s really gotten worse after Asus released fresh BIOS updates alternatively of getting well .

Then there ’s theROG Ally Z1 . To this day , I ’m not sure why it was made ; it for sure makes almost no sentience to buy it over the Z1 Extreme variant . It ’s thing like this that make me guess that Asus may not be quite ready for a ROG Ally 2 just yet . What I would like to see instead — and I ’m certain that some ROG Ally possessor would concord with me — are more frequent updates to the exist console .

The good tidings , however , is that it ’s proof that PC - based gaming handhelds are n’t just a passing fad . challenger is heating up , and the quick pace of launching testify how much appetite exists in the market place . More competition between manufacturers means more choices — and hopefully , skilful product in the end .