Gaming Handhelds

XDA's latest coverage on gaming handhelds in one convenient spot

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steam deck with emulator running
Valve's price hike reportedly wipes out 82% of Steam Deck sales as it goes into "near-total collapse"

Things aren't looking great for handhelds.

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ayaneo-next-2-featured
Ayaneo's new handheld will set you back $5,299 for the top-range model

How much is too much?

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Asus ROG Ally X Steam big picture mode with pink wall in back
The Asus ROG Ally X has everything the Steam Deck doesn't, except the one thing that actually matters

Software is so much more important than might think when it comes to a handheld

15
The Steam Deck LCD
Valve says it will continue offering Steam Deck LCD replacement batteries

iFixit says the stock issue was real, but that it has been resolved.

cachyos on rog ally x showing alacritty terminal
CachyOS beats SteamOS on my ROG Ally X, and Windows 11 isn't even in the running anymore

Power-constrained handhelds deserve a tuned, minimal operating system to get out of your game's way

5
Asus ROG Ally X power limits settings on side bar
Your handheld's Performance Mode is actually tanking your 1% low frame rates on battery

Your 1% low frame rates are suffering.

Gaming handheld with a decky plugin displayed
The Decky plugin that doubled my frame rate is the only handheld upgrade I cared about this year

This Decky plugin made me stop thinking about upgrading my handheld.

4
RG-34XXSP-in-hand
I'd buy a retro handheld now if I were you, because the RAM crisis is quietly making them worse

If you're on the fence about a specific device, pull the trigger as soon as you can

Playing Daemon X Machina on a smartphone via Artemis
I paired an old Android phone with a Proxmox VM, and it's my favorite gaming handheld now

And it's surprisingly good at running modern PC titles

1
Plex on PS Vita media page
I turned my old PlayStation Vita into a distraction-free Plex machine, and it's my favorite device now

Nobody expected Plex on a PlayStation Vita, but this open-source client just solved a problem I didn't know I had

playing forza horizon 6 on the msi claw 8 ex ai plus handheld
After a year of PC gaming handhelds, MSI proved everyone else is playing catch-up

Intel's Arc G3 Extreme chipset is a banger, but the price tag will sting

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Asus ROG Ally X being held up in front of pick wall with lego batman on screen
Your handheld's 75 FPS isn't real, and that's why aiming feels broken

Upscaling is actually making your handheld feel worse.

7
Lenovo Legion Go 2 and included carrying case.
The Legion Go 2 needs more than a Z2 Extreme to make me drop the Steam Deck

There's a reason why Steam Deck is leading the handheld race, and it was never about hardware

5
A gaming handheld showing the Steam listing for the Grip XR demo
Gaming handhelds are getting too expensive, but your old one can do more than you realize

Save your money

A picture of the Anbernic 40XXV laying down on a desk with a focus on the joystick
You can now buy replacement joysticks and screens directly from Anbernic instead of ditching your handheld

The parts are affordable, too.

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Steam Machine.
Valve's Steam Deck price hike might be warning sign that the Steam Machine is DOA

What happens when a mass-market product doesn't have mass-market prices?

4
Asus ROG Ally Xbox X 20th Anniversary
Gaming handhelds can't compete in ranked matches, and the joystick is the reason why

Stick to casual gaming.

9
Asus ROG Ally X with pink tech in background
Windows handhelds are doomed because they require the same maintenance as a workstation

This handheld is fundamentally flawed.

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Steam running on the Nintendo Switch
If a decade-old Nintendo Switch can run PC games, your next handheld doesn't need to be x86

The Nintendo Switch can run Steam, and that means a lot for the future of Arm gaming.

4
hacked a PS Vita into a retro-gaming console
I hacked my PlayStation Vita into a retro gaming console and Sony has no idea what it gave up

Abandoned by Sony, revived by community.

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