Announced on the 1st of April, ROG’s wasn’t fooling around when they announced the ROG Ally. And ASUS hasn’t been kind with details either including details about an ROG Ally price. A handheld gaming device, powered by a custom AMD APU presumably and running Windows 11, its not the direct Steam Deck competitor one would’ve liked but in its stead lies two Chinese start-up that produces both AYA NEO and WIN GPD which shares the Taiwanese giant’s Windows-based setup.
With no price on the horizon, we take a look at the historical pricing from these companies plus ASUS own historical pricing to put rough estimate on what we may be working with for the potential ROG Ally price once it releases.
ROG Ally Price Comparison vs. Steam Deck, Aya Neo, GPD Win
One of the most important factors that gamers consider when buying a handheld gaming PC is the price. The price of a device can determine its accessibility, affordability, and value for money. Unfortunately, Asus has not yet revealed the official ROG Ally price yet, but we can make some educated guesses based on its specifications and competitors.
The closest competitor to the ROG Ally is the Steam Deck, which has three models with different storage capacities: 64GB for $399, 256GB for $529, and 512GB for $649. The Steam Deck also runs on a custom AMD chip and has a 7-inch touchscreen display. However, it has lower resolution (1280×800) than the ROG Ally (1920×1080) and does not support external GPUs. The Steam Deck also runs on SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system that may not be compatible with all PC games.
Another competitor to the ROG Ally is the Aya Neo, a handheld gaming PC that launched on Indiegogo earlier this year. The Aya Neo has a 7-inch touchscreen display with 1280×800 resolution and runs on Windows 10. It also has a custom AMD chip and three models with different storage capacities: 512GB for $699, 1TB for $789, and 2TB for $969. The Aya Neo does not support external GPUs either.
A third competitor to the ROG Ally is the GPD Win 3, a handheld gaming PC that also launched on Indiegogo earlier this year. The GPD Win 3 has a 5.5-inch touchscreen display with 1280×720 resolution and runs on Windows 10. It has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 or i7-1165G7 processor and two models with different storage capacities: 1TB for $799 or $899 depending on the processor. The GPD Win 3 also has a unique feature: a sliding keyboard that reveals the display. However, it does not support external GPUs either.
Based on these competitors, we can estimate that the ROG Ally will have a price range of $600 to $1000 depending on its storage capacity and performance. This would make it more expensive than the Steam Deck but cheaper than the Aya Neo and the GPD Win 3. However, this is only an estimate and Asus may surprise us with a different price point.
Availability Comparison – ROG Ally vs. the World
Another factor that gamers consider when buying a handheld gaming PC is the availability. The availability of a device can determine its accessibility, convenience, and demand. Unfortunately, Asus has not yet revealed the official release date of the ROG Ally either, but we can make some educated guesses based on its announcement and competitors.
The ROG Ally was announced on April Fool’s Day, which caused some confusion among gamers who thought it was a joke. However, Asus later confirmed that it was a real product and not a prank. Asus also partnered with Best Buy to create a waitlist page where interested buyers can sign up for more information about the pre-order. This suggests that Asus is serious about launching the ROG Ally soon.
The closest competitor to the ROG Ally in terms of availability is the Steam Deck, which is expected to start shipping last December 2021. However, due to high demand and limited supply, Valve has already pushed back the estimated delivery dates for some orders to Q2 or Q3 of 2022.
Conclusion.. sort off
There’s really nothing to conclude here as we’re grasping at straws. There are many factors outside of ASUS charging their ROG tax that would inflate the price of the ROG Ally. From what we can see from the PCB, this isn’t anything special and right up ASUS’ wheelhouse in terms of custom developed PCBs. ASUS is capable enough to make their own SuperNova SoM, a very intricated shared package module so cramming a laptop motherboard into a handheld isn’t going to be too hard for them so the bill of materials would factor in more than the assembly line cost.
Materials are pretty much all readily available. ASUS keeps a stockpile of XG Mobile connectors, gamepad buttons from their Raikiri gamepad supplier and sticks from their Kunai. Ultimately the only unique orders here would be the new 7″ 120Hz 1080p screen on the ROG Ally. That and the mold and tooling for the ROG Ally’s chassis.
With those in mind, an entry-model specced ROG Ally with a supposed 2023 mobile APU from AMD plus 16GB of DDR4 memory with a modest 500GB SSD could give us a starting price of $599. Or at least ASUS could start at $599 for an entry model ROG Ally. A maxed out model can go up to $1200 with any of the newer 2TB M.2 2230 if they should put that in here, which would drive up the ROG Ally’s price.
Focusing on my home market, its purely speculation but I expected the ROG Ally to have Philippine price of Php69,995 for the entry model. This isn’t based on anything aside from pure gut feel but I expect ASUS to sweeten the deal by including the ROG Raikiri gamepad and more extras to sweeten the pre-order deal.
Edit: Forgot to add there’s also the OEM license cost of Windows which would add to the cost. Its not retail pricing so should be a bit under $100.
Finally closing on the release date, I can confirm I am under an NDA for the ROG Ally as I will be reviewing it soon but no release window has been disclosed. I am expecting the ROG Ally to hit global stores in May just in time for the US and Canada market while Asia will receive it during COMPUTEX 2023 around the last week of May to help ASUS drive up interest by coinciding with the largest computer expo in Asia.