Asus’ New ROG Ally X Gaming Handheld Will Have a Much Bigger Battery
It's not an ROG Ally 2, but it is a notable upgrade over Asus’ first windows-based handheld.
It’s been a little less than a year since Asus released its Windows-based ROG Ally handheld, but there’s already a new sheriff in town.
The ROG Ally X, announced this week, will be the stepping stone to a true Ally 2 and come with some significant upgrades (and some minor) over the original.
Big Boy Battery
Probably the biggest improvement will be battery life. According to The Verge, who spoke to Asus SVP Shawn Yen, the Ally X will take a significant step in that department.
“We’re not looking at 30 to 40 percent more capacity... We’re looking at way more than that,” Yen told the tech publication.
Unlike the original ROG Ally (pictured above) the Ally X will also come in black.
On a more superficial level, the Ally X will also come in a new black shell — a variation on the original white. And while there aren’t any official specs yet, the Ally X is confirmed to use the same AMD Z1 Extreme CPU as the original and have the same LCD display. That’s all to say there’s probably no performance boost here — that’ll likely have to wait for the Ally 2.
Chipset and display may be the same, but there will be some minor tweaks to the hardware. The Ally X will use a different SD card reader and also improved joysticks that should be easier to swap out and repair.
If this all sounds somewhat incremental, well... it is. That being said, battery life is still a major factor when it comes to handheld gaming (or pretty much any device category) and if the boost is as pronounced as Asus claims it is, it’ll be hard to argue with the Ally X’s value. It might not be enough to convince current ROG Ally owners to upgrade, but if you were on the fence about buying one, this could be the sweetener that pushes you over.
Ally X Price and Release Date
Speaking of value, there’s no price yet on the Ally X. In fact, there are very few official details outside of what I’ve outlined above — that includes an official release date. Luckily, we won’t have to wait too long for hard information on the Ally X, though.
Asus plans to hold a more robust reveal event on June 2, which will more than likely contain all of that very important unknown info and more.
