Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience

Microsoft and Asus person been moving unneurotic implicit the past twelvemonth to make not one, but 2 caller ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. Both of these Xbox Ally devices, portion of the Project Kennan effort I reported connected earlier this year, see a caller full-screen Xbox acquisition connected Windows that’s designed to beryllium much handheld-friendly and fell distant the complexity of Windows to absorption connected gaming instead.

The achromatic ROG Xbox Ally is designed for 720p gaming, and the much almighty achromatic ROG Xbox Ally X targets 900p to 1080p gaming connected the go. Like the existing ROG Ally and Ally X, the caller Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X stock the aforesaid 7-inch 1080p screen, implicit with a 120Hz refresh complaint and VRR support.

The Xbox Ally uses a previously unannounced AMD Ryzen Z2 A chip, combined with 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512GB of M.2 2280 SSD storage. The Xbox Ally X upgrades the spot to AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, and a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD.

All of these specs marque them precise akin to Asus’ existing Windows-powered handheld gaming PCs astatine heart, but determination are immoderate much-needed changes to the bundle broadside that could marque the Windows handheld acquisition a batch better.

“We cognize that to instrumentality this handheld acquisition to the adjacent level, we cannot bash this alone,” says Shawn Yen, vice president of user astatine Asus, successful a briefing with The Verge, admitting that immoderate gamers person recovered it “frustrating and confusing” to navigate Windows with joysticks and fastener until now.

Microsoft and Asus person been collaborating intimately connected these 2 caller Xbox Ally devices implicit the past year, and Yen says Microsoft and Asus “share a associated obsession” connected these caller handhelds.

That associated obsession includes Microsoft making bully connected its committedness to harvester “the champion of Xbox and Windows together,” acknowledgment to a caller Xbox full-screen acquisition connected Windows that’s designed specifically for handhelds. Not lone tin the Xbox Ally devices footwear straight to this interface, but the companies assertion you tin easy get backmost to it utilizing a caller dedicated Xbox fastener connected these handhelds, overmuch similar an Xbox console.

Microsoft doesn’t load the afloat Windows desktop oregon a clump of inheritance processes successful this full-screen Xbox experience, putting Windows firmly successful the inheritance and freeing up much representation for games. Instead, you motorboat consecutive into the Xbox PC app, which includes each of your PC games from the Microsoft Store, Battle.net, and what Microsoft calls “other starring storefronts.”

This aggregated gaming room means you’ll spot games from Xbox, Game Pass, and each your PC games installed from Steam, Epic Games Store, and elsewhere successful a azygous interface, overmuch similar what the GOG launcher offers. Earlier this week, we started seeing parts of this unified room appear successful the Xbox PC app, and Microsoft says you’ll beryllium capable to entree your afloat Xbox console room done Xbox Cloud Gaming oregon Remote Play to an Xbox console.

The thought is that you should beryllium capable to seamlessly motorboat immoderate crippled you own, whether it’s really installed connected your handheld, streaming from your Xbox Series X implicit location Wi-Fi, oregon streaming from the cloud, though we person yet to effort that ourselves.

Microsoft has besides made immoderate further tweaks to the Xbox PC app and Game Bar to marque this each much handheld-friendly, including the quality to log successful via the Windows lockscreen with your controller, nary touchscreen taps required. You’ll besides beryllium capable to usage this handheld-friendly Game Bar interface to easy motorboat apps similar Discord, oregon alt-tab betwixt apps and games, oregon set settings without having to fiddle with the touchscreen. You tin work each astir each the Windows changes successful my heavy dive look astatine this caller Xbox PC acquisition close here.

These 2 Xbox Ally devices besides person Xbox-like contoured grips. It’s arsenic if Microsoft and Asus person taken an Xbox controller and squeezed a surface betwixt the grips, akin to what Sony did with its PlayStation Portal. The grips person been designed similar this to marque it easier to wrapper your hands astir the full controls, truthful you entree each the buttons and triggers.

The Xbox Ally X adjacent has impulse triggers like each modern Xbox controllers, truthful you’ll consciousness things similar terrain of roads during racing games oregon the interaction of bullets successful a shooter, each acknowledgment to the haptics connected the triggers. Asus is besides utilizing a USB-C 4 connector that supports Thunderbolt 4 connected the much almighty Xbox Ally X, offering the anticipation of connecting a almighty outer GPU to it, alongside a azygous USB-C 3.2 larboard and a UHS-II microSD paper reader. The Xbox Ally uses 2 USB-C 3.2 ports instead.

Microsoft and Asus aren’t providing immoderate benchmarks oregon a existent consciousness of show for these handhelds yet, and some usage chips we haven’t tested. But interestingly, they look to beryllium focusing connected artillery beingness this clip around.

“For this procreation the astir important happening to america is efficiency. Efficiency is our caller superpower,” says Yen. “The games volition beryllium capable to play cooler and quieter, and astatine the aforesaid clip connection you a longer artillery beingness for gameplay.” AMD told america successful January that the Z2 Extreme would beryllium some its astir almighty and astir businesslike handheld spot yet, portion the Z2 A is rumored to beryllium based connected the Steam Deck’s little almighty but battery-sipping Van Gogh-based chip.

Importantly, the Xbox Ally is utilizing a 60Wh battery, 50 percent larger than the battalion that shipped successful the archetypal ROG Ally, portion the much almighty Xbox Ally X uses an 80Wh battery, tied with the Ally X and the largest you tin find successful a handheld today. The Windows tweaks whitethorn besides amended battery, with Microsoft claiming it’s already seeing one-third of the drain erstwhile these Xbox Full Screen Experience systems are idle and asleep.

If you privation other performance, you’ll besides beryllium capable to dock these Xbox Ally devices to Asus’ XG mobile device that offers up an RTX 5090 laptop GPU to overhaul however games play connected these handheld devices.

These caller Xbox Ally handhelds volition motorboat during the vacation play aboriginal this year, and Microsoft and Asus are readying to stock pricing and preorder accusation successful the coming months.