Header: Courtesy of Xbox
Get ready for a new chapter in portable gaming. On October 16, ASUS and Xbox are releasing the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two devices built from the ground up to bring your PC and Xbox games into the palm of your hand. More than just powerful machines, their design centers on making gaming on the go a straightforward and engaging experience.
Built for how you play
The core of the ROG Xbox Ally’s design is its user interface, which is made to feel familiar to console players while running on Windows 11. When you turn on the device, you’re greeted with a full-screen experience created specifically for gaming, which pushes background computer tasks aside to dedicate more system resources to your game.
Physical controls are a key part of the design. A dedicated Xbox button sits on the face of the handheld. Pressing it brings up a special Game Bar overlay, giving you a quick way to get to your home screen, look through your games, chat with friends, or access ROG’s Armoury Crate SE software. This software organizes your games into one aggregated library, pulling titles from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, and other PC stores into a single, easy-to-browse location. This setup means you can play games installed directly on the device, stream them from the cloud, or use Remote Play to connect to your home Xbox console.
The look and feel of power
Inside the Ally and Ally X are two different processors that define their capabilities. The standard ROG Xbox Ally uses an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor, a chip selected to give a good mix of performance and power efficiency. The goal here is to extend battery life without a major drop in how well games run.
For players who want the most advanced experience, the ROG Xbox Ally X is built with more powerful components. It comes with an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor for top-tier performance and visual quality. The “X” model’s design also includes a full 1TB of storage, 24GB of high-speed RAM, and a larger 80Wh battery to support longer play sessions. To improve the physical feeling of play, the Ally X incorporates impulse triggers, which provide detailed feedback during gameplay.
A smarter interface
To make sure games work well right away, Xbox has created the Handheld Compatibility Program. In your game library, you will see special badges on game icons. A “Handheld Optimized” badge means the game is ready to play immediately, with proper controller inputs and clear on-screen text. A “Mostly Compatible” badge indicates that a game may require a few minor adjustments to its settings for optimal performance. The interface also includes a “Windows Performance Fit” indicator, which tells you how well a game is expected to run on your device, giving you a good idea of performance before you even launch it.
The more powerful processor in the Xbox Ally X also opens the door for new AI-driven features. One of these is Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR), a system that uses the device’s neural processing unit (NPU) to upscale games, creating sharper, high-resolution images even when the game is running at a lower resolution. This helps maintain smooth framerates. Another AI feature is “highlight reels,” which automatically captures exciting moments from your gameplay, like a big victory, and creates short video clips for you to share.
Designed to grow
The Ally and Ally X are made to improve over time with new software and hardware additions. An upcoming feature called Advanced Shader Delivery will preload certain game files during download, which can make select games launch up to 10 times faster and run more efficiently on the first play. The ecosystem is also expanding with a range of accessories, including the new ROG Raikiri II Xbox Wireless Controller. This controller was created with anti-drift joysticks and dual-mode triggers for different types of games. Enhancements are also on the way for the docking experience, which will improve how the handhelds connect to a big screen for at-home gaming. The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are set to give gamers more ways and more places to play when they arrive on October 16.
