ASUS surprised the world with the teaser of its handheld console – the Asus ROG Ally on April 1st. Despite picking the worst day for announcements, the product was a real deal and posed a threat to the Steam Deck. The handheld console would come with a series of interesting improvements over what we have in the handheld scene. For example, it brings the AMD Z1 Extreme APU which basically has the performance of the latest Ryzen 7 series CPU and has a 1080p display with 120Hz refresh rate. It’s way more than the Steam Deck and Switch that have 720p displays with a 60Hz refresh rate. The only question floating is: Will its price be competitive when compared to the Steam Deck? A new leak comes to clarify.
ASUS ROG Ally’s alleged price is making rounds across the web
ASUS confirmed that ROG Ally’s official announcement on Ally’s price comes on May 11. The brand also confirmed the price will be “below $1,000” for both variants. Now, the Twitter leaker SnoopyTech has the exact price for all those eagerly waiting for more details about this console.
As per the leak, the ASUS ROG Ally will cost just $699. The Best Buy listing for the console also confirms that with the 512 GB of Internal Storage. It sounds like a decent price considering the specs and the internal storage. However, take in mind that this could be a placeholder price. It’s common for retailers to list devices with placeholder prices before their release.
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The ASUS ROG Ally ran Geekbench recently. The result points to a significant difference between the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Ryzen Z1. There will be a cheaper model with the Z1, and its price tag could be close to $499. This sounds good because even the basic version of the Zen4 APU is better than Valve’s Steam Deck hardware. As we’ve said, it has a 1080p screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 512 GB of Internal Store. The leaked controller also shows decent ergonomics and a well-packed set of features and buttons. One question that remains is the battery life. If it does not last well, then it will ruin the entire deal. Anyway, ASUS claims that it is on par with the Steam Deck.
As per AMD, the ROG Ally can run Fortnite at 1080p 60fps. The exact settings are a mystery and we don’t know if there is any kind of upscaling going on. Anyway, that’s a decent outcome for a portable computer. The ASUS ROG Ally is also rumored to run a version of Windows 11. That means it will be able to run Steam, Epic Games, and any kind of cloud gaming service available.
