*UPDATE – 8/13/25*
The Amazon listing has since been removed, but these were the details made available!
*Original Details*
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has teased a first-party Xbox handheld for years, but with a restructuring of the company and a slight change of plans, Microsoft is now working with ASUS to create the next best thing. The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are the short-term solution to the lack of portable Xbox gaming devices, but there are still rumors of a first-party device being developed internally with a likely announcement date in 2027. I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one though.
Both of these ASUS devices were officially unveiled back in June, with the Xbox ROG Ally including an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. The Ally X was pitched as the gaming device for “the most demanding players,” and steps up its specs to an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and 24GB of high-speed RAM. Both run Windows 11, feature a full-screen Xbox interface, and offer an aggregated library spanning installed titles from Steam, Battle.net, and GOG, as well as full support for Xbox Play Anywhere.
With that said, Xbox President Sarah Bond went into great detail earlier this year about the company’s partnership with AMD while hinting at other partnerships to essentially create a vast portfolio of “next-generation Xbox consoles in your living room and in your hands.” The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X were announced, then the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition, and so on, with Xbox now seemingly becoming what appears to be a gaming service founded upon partnerships across the industry of both hardware and software.
Since then, there has been a tremendous amount of speculation from fans and critics alike about when, where, and for how much the devices would release. According to Dealabs’ billbil-kun, who has a long history of accurate gaming leaks, pre-orders will begin on August 20th alongside Gamescom 2025, and that the prices would be around $700 for the Xbox Ally and $900 for the Xbox Ally X.
More than that, leaker eXtas1s mentioned a potential release in October 2025, and billbil-kun reported that the information was reinforced by a mistakenly publicized product sheet at an official ASUS distributor in Spain. The exact release date will now likely be October 16th, 2025, based on the evidence uncovered by these eagle-eyed internet investigators, and the conversation is heating up around whether the quality and necessity for the devices will justify the hefty price tags.
With such a short time before the likely official launch, only time will tell. I for one would love to get my hands on one of these beauties so I could play my Xbox in the bathtub or on the back patio in my rocking chair. Maybe that’s just me but look how well the Switch 2 sold! Either way, this is all still rumored based on leaks, but it’s probable that these leakers are correct as they often are, so get excited and start saving money for October 16th, 2025.
