The most exciting thing about the ROG Xbox Ally handheld, at least for me, isn’t that it’s an Xbox. Nope, it’s the fact that it isn’t an Xbox, it’s a Windows 11 PC, albeit a teeny-tiny one. And with Microsoft onboard, it’s packing a refreshed, streamlined build of Windows that’s all about gaming. Asus says that the updated interface is coming to the older ROG Ally and Ally X handhelds, too.
This isn’t all that shocking — Microsoft itself confirmed that the new interface is coming to other Windows-based handheld gaming PCs, starting in 2026. But it’s nice to get confirmation from manufacturer Asus that its older designs are definitely getting these enhancements. Asus representative Whitson Gordon said so at the Gamescom conference in Germany, speaking to PCGamer:
“Now we’re not leaving Ally and Ally X users out in the cold, if you already have those devices. We’ll eventually be bringing some of those Xbox experiences to those devices … They’re not going to roll out at the exact same time, but they will come to those devices soon.”
Exactly which features we’re talking about here aren’t specificed. Since Asus software runs a pretty extensive interface layer on top of Windows 11 on the original Ally and Ally X, the same way that SteamOS on the Steam Deck is running on top of Linux, it seems like it’ll be a big project to get the tweaked version of Windows on the older hardware. Asus might insist on keeping some of the Armoury Crate app and similar middleware in there.
If it were up to me (candy and nuts, et cetera), I’d offer customers a way to wipe off the original build, and install Windows 11 fresh once those new handheld gaming UI tweaks are available. That’s definitely part of Microsoft’s plan, since it can’t be unaware that Windows 11 is something of a yoke around the neck of gaming handhelds compared to the lightness of SteamOS on the Steam Deck. SteamOS is expanding with official offerings like the Lenovo Legion Go S, and even being offered as an alternative on the ROG Ally.
The ROG Xbox Ally handheld, along with its upgrade ROG Xbox Ally X counterpart, will go on sale on October 16. The price has yet to be announced…probably because the chaotically ephemeral nature of U.S. tariffs makes it a gamble to set any price in stone even a couple of months from now.
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