ASUS ROG Ally Handheld Console Price Leaked By BestBuy, $699.99 US For 16 GB & 512 GB Variant

By: Hassan Mujtaba
Source: https://wccftech.com/asus-rog-ally-handheld-console-price-leaked-by-bestbuy-699-99-us-for-16-gb-512-gb-variant/

BestBuy has leaked the pricing of ASUS’s upcoming ROG Ally handheld gaming console which will be priced at $699.99 US.

ASUS ROG Ally Handheld Gaming Console Pricing Leaked: $699.99 US For 16 GB + 512 GB Variant

The pricing was spotted Twitter user, @wickedkhumz, who was able to take a quick screenshot of the page (not retracted). The page shows that the ASUS ROG Ally Handheld console will come with a price of $699.99 US for the 16 GB LPDDR5 and 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD variant which should be a very competitive price range against the Valve Steam Deck console which ranges from $399 to $649 US.

Image Credits: @wickedkhumz

In its official announcement, ASUS has confirmed that the ROG Ally handheld gaming console will be the first to feature the newly announced AMD Ryzen Z1 series processors. The processors are launching in two flavors and we can also expect the console to feature two variants as revealed in leaked benchmarks a few days ago.

This APU is said to deliver 50% higher performance than the Steam Deck at 15W and 2x the uplift when running at its peak 35W performance mode. There’s also the added advantage of FSR & RSR support which can drive performance even further.

The overall design choices of the ASUS ROG Ally handheld gaming console mirror similar designs we currently see in the handheld industry, from chunky handles to ergonomic grips, & looks very similar to Valve’s Steam Deck, One-Netbook’s OneXPlayer, and others. It also appears that the company researched detachable gamepads, which only a few have dabbled into using for their designs.

Engadget China also included images showing the breakdown of the handheld and the PCB board that will be used and housing the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip based on the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor. This new processor is based on Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures, showing the system’s true power. The ASUS ROG Ally can also support the ASUS XG Mobile external graphics card (eGPU), which offers NVIDIA graphics as high as the RTX 4090 family. While this eGPU can bring a lot more power to the handheld’s capabilities, it also costs $2000 US which is a steep price to pay unless you really are a gamer on the go and want the best possible solution next to you all the time in compact designs.

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In the included photos from Engadget, the system is rotated to see all inputs from a DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0 USB-Type C, TFT port, audio jack, and buttons on the back of the system for added macros. There are no additional photos of the AMD Phoenix APU being used due to ASUS using liquid metal to adhere the processor to the board, causing reviewers to be hesitant to break the seal.

The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme offers compute TFLOPs on par with the PS4 Pro which is a huge deal for a handheld gaming console while the Ryzen Z1 offers more compute TFLOPs than the original PS4 (a 50%+ increase). The Ryzen Z1 targets 1080p low-quality gaming at 60 FPS using RSR (upscale from 720P) while the Ryzen Z1 Extreme targets over 60 FPS with higher visual fidelity using RSR. I should also point out that since these are different architectures, the TFLOPs comparison is just for reference and not meant to point out the actual performance difference between the consoles.

AMD Ryzen Z1 APUs For Handheld Gaming Consoles (Compute TFLOPs)
FP32 TFLOPs

0
3
6
9
12
15
18

0
3
6
9
12
15
18

Xbox Series X

12.1

PS5

10.2

Ryzen Z1 Extreme

8.6

PS4 Pro

8.4

Xbox One X

6

Xbox Series S

4

Ryzen Z1

2.8

PS4

1.9

Xbox One

1.3

Nintendo Switch

0.4

Recent updates have shown that the new ASUS ROG Ally’s screen is a 7-inch 120Hz panel (5ms response time) with a max resolution of 1080P FHD and offers up to 500 Nits brightness. The new console is expected to weigh 669g. The new Ally from ASUS ROG will feature two thumbsticks, a D-Pad, and the ABXY button layout typical with all current handhelds, sans Nintendo, who opted to reverse those buttons. There are other buttons along with trigger sticks on the top and back.

The front of the ASUS ROG Ally is where the stereo audio output is located, along with the large exhaust vents on the rear. The new system offers a dual-fan exhaust featuring an integrated heat pipe. The ASUS ROG logo is placed on the back, and the system provides an active accent LED strip when powered on the device.

The closest we got was an Asus representative assuring us that, while the retail price was being held back for a reveal at the May 11 launch event (and will undoubtedly be leaked well ahead of that), “I can tell you for sure that the price will be below $1,000. 200% it will be below $1,000.”

ASUS Employee via PC Gamer

As for pricing, the ASUS ROG Ally handheld gaming console is said to feature a price below $1000 US. We know that at least one variant is going to cost $699.99 US and there could be other variants that retail for even lower and those will be revealed next month during the official launch.

Handheld Gaming Console Lineup:

Name AOKZOE A1 Pro AOKZOE A2 ASUS ROG ALLY AYANEO 2S
CPU Name AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen Z1 Series AMD Ryzen 7 7840U
CPU Architecture Zen 4 Zen 4 Zen 4 Zen 4
GPU Architecture RDNA 3 RDNA 3 RDNA 3 RDNA 3
Process Node TSMC 4nm TSMC 4nm TSMC 4nm TSMC 4nm
CPU Cores / Threads 8 / 16 8 / 16 8 / 16 8 / 16
CPU Clock Speeds ~5.2 GHz ~5.2 GHz ~5.2 GHz ~5.2 GHz
GPU Cores 12 CU 12 CU 12 CU 12 CU
GPU Clock Speeds 2800 MHz 2800 MHz 2800 MHz 2800 MHz
Memory LPDDR5x? LPDDR5x? 16 GB LPDDR5x 16 GB LPDDR5x
Storage TBD TBD 512 GB (M.2) +
Micro-SD UHS-H
512 GB – 2 TB (M.2)
Display Refresh Rate TBD TBD 120 Hz TBD
Display Size 8-Inch 7-Inch 7-Inch 7-Inch
Display Resolution 1920×1200 1920×1200 1920×1080 1920×1200
Screen Type Full IPS Laminated IPS TBD Full IPS
WiFi Option WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0
USB Options TBD TBD TBD TBD
Battery Size 65Wh
100W GaN Fast Charger
48Wh
65W GaN Fast Charger
TBD 50.25Wh
Weight 729g 600g 608g TBD
Form Factor TBD TBD 28.0 x 11.3 x 3.9mm TBD
Operating System Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11
Release Date May 2023 May 2023 May 2023 May 2023
Price TBD TBD $699.99 (16 GB+512 GB) TBD

Written by Hassan Mujtaba