After many rumors and leaks, it's finally official: ASUS announced at gamescom that the two handhelds ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X will arrive on October 16th; the price has not yet been confirmed, but an advertisement mentioned 599 Euros for the first and 899 Euros for the second and more powerful model.

Below is the most important information about these long-awaited PC/console handsets.

These new handhelds, created to bring the Xbox experience everywhere, will allow you to access our library of games, both locally and via the cloud, with a series of features designed specifically for mobile gaming.

The new Xbox Ally devices are designed to be powerful and versatile. Inside we will find the latest generation AMD processors: the base model will mount an AMD Ryzen Z2 A, designed to balance performance and power consumption, while the enhanced version, Xbox Ally X, will be equipped with the top of the range AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, which includes a powerful neural computing unit (NPU) to unlock AI-based features. Both models will offer a console-inspired user experience, thanks to a full-screen interface powered by Windows 11 and optimized to devote as many resources as possible to gameplay, minimizing background activities. A dedicated Xbox key will open an improved Game Bar, allowing us to return to the home, browse the library, start or close games and chat with friends in a simple and immediate way.

One of the most interesting aspects is the new "Handheld Compatibility Program" initiative, a program with which Xbox is collaborating with development studios to test and optimize thousands of games for use on laptops. Within our library we will see new labels that will help us understand the level of compatibility of a title. The "Handheld Optimized" badge will indicate games that are ready to be played without any modifications, with controller inputs, icons, and text already perfectly adapted. The "Mostly Compatible" label, on the other hand, will flag titles that may require some minor adjustments in the settings for the best experience. To this will be added the "Windows Performance Fit" indicator, which will give us an idea of the performance we can expect from a given game on our device, thus guaranteeing us maximum transparency before even starting the download.

The flagship model, the Xbox Ally X, is aimed at those looking for the most advanced portable experience. In addition to the aforementioned AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, this device will boast 1TB of storage memory, 24GB of high-speed RAM, an 80Wh battery, and pulse triggers for more immersive feedback. Thanks to the built-in NPU, exclusive AI-based features will be introduced starting next year, such as Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR), a system-wide technology that will optimize games at lower resolutions to return sharp images and smooth framerates without developer intervention. Another novelty will be the "highlight reels", clips automatically generated by the AI that will capture our most spectacular gaming moments, such as victories or epic battles, ready to be shared with friends or on social media.

The news does not end there. Microsoft has in fact anticipated a series of future updates that will further improve the experience. These include a new "Advanced shader delivery" feature that will pre-load game shaders during download, allowing some titles to launch up to 10 times faster and with better performance on first launch.