Phil Spencer has professed that he is a proud owner of a Lenovo Legion Go handheld gaming PC, but has experimented with other mainstream portable devices in recent times. Polygon conducted an "extensive" interview with the CEO of Microsoft Gaming—headlines have been generated from this tête-à-tête, mostly focusing on his wishlist of additional digital storefronts appearing on Xbox platforms. Ecosystem familiarity seem to be a very important aspect (in Spencer's opinion)—something that the current crop of handhelds lack: "I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox. I brought (the Legion Go) with me to GDC. I'm on the airplane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget about the brand. More like: Are all of my games there? Do all my games show up with the save (files) that I want? I'll tell you one (game) that doesn't right now—it's driving me crazy—is Fallout 76. It doesn't have cross-save."

He continued: "I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social (experience) is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. (Except I want it) on those devices." Industry rumors have swirled around the possible existence of an in-development Xbox handheld—Spencer confirmed that his hardware design team, headed up by Roanne Sones, has weighed up: "different hardware form factors and things that (they) could go do...What should we build that will find new players? That will allow people to play at times when they couldn't go play (in the past)?"

MSI's new handheld gaming PC—Claw—has (so far) experienced a scattershot global launch and review program. Initial impressions from embargo-busting Chinese evaluators indicated that the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" APU-based devices struggled to keep up with 2023's lineup of AMD-powered handhelds—namely the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. YouTube tech channel, Retro Tech Dad, has acquired two MSI Claw SKUs for testing purposes—the more expensive model sports an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, while the basic variant makes do with a Core Ultra 5 135H. The plucky new-ish competitors—updated with freshly-released drivers—were pitched against both ASUS ROG Ally variants (Ryzen Z1 Extreme and Z1 vanilla), but the main takeaway from Retro Tech Dad's testing activities is the higher-end Claw's apparent inability to outpace its weaker sibling.

Once again, we see these Intel "Meteor Lake" mobile chips falling behind AMD's popular Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU—the standard Ryzen Z1 seems to be a closer rival. VideoCardz has analyzed Retro Tech Dad's initial findings—these figures: "suggests that the Core Ultra 5 135H performs better than the Core Ultra 7 155H in low-TDP settings. However, overall, both APUs provide nearly identical performance." It is worth watching Retro Tech Dad's full video coverage—he posits that Intel's silicon is capable of trading blows with equivalent AMD parts, but current drivers could be holding back this unrealized potential. The cheapest Claw SKU seems to be the de facto choice (for Team Blue enthusiasts), given its demonstrated ability to keep up with higher-priced options within MSI's handheld family.

The Orange Pi Neo handheld gaming PC was first exhibited in Europe earlier in the year—where the Manjaro Linux team handed out demo units to attendees of FOSDEM. The initial batch of Orange Pi Neo handhelds were specced with AMD's ubiquitous Ryzen 7 7840U "Phoenix" mobile APU, but a recent official launch event—in China—revealed a new-gen alternative. The Manjaro Linux social media account summarized this weekend presentation: "we launched Orange Pi Neo in Shenzhen. The Ryzen 7 7840U model (16 GB/512 GB) will be 4099 CNY / 499 USD and Ryzen 7 8840U (16 GB/512 GB) model starts at 4499 CNY / 599 USD."

The newly unveiled price points have been deemed quite reasonable and competitive—when lined up against the nearest competition. The Manjaro Linux distribution could be a sticking point for more discerning OS-heads, but alternative operating routes could be outlined by online communities in the near future. The $599 AMD "Hawk Point" Ryzen 7 8840U-based option seems to be slightly overpriced, when you consider the marginal performance improvements it levies when compared to the very similarly appointed Ryzen 7 7840U APU. The "modernized" processor nets you a more potent XDNA NPU, but both product generations house Team Red's Radeon 780M iGPU. Orange Pi and Manjaro are likely testing the waters with an initial Chinese market launch—we hope to see a wider global rollout in the coming months.

Playtron is new a startup company put together by Kirt McMaster—former CEO plus co-founder of CyanogenMod—and a couple of industry veterans. Sean Hollister, senior editor and founding member of The Verge, has gained exclusive access to early Playtron material. The firm's logically named PlaytronOS is a Linux-based platform, compatible with ARM and x86 architectures—according to official hype material it is a "light weight gaming OS optimized for a new generation of powerful handheld gaming PCs… and beyond. Play all your games from every store… Steam… Epic and more." Hollister indicated that he was "cautiously optimistic" about Playtron's future prospects, following discussions conducted with development partners, and rifling through internal project documentation.

The Verge report stated that: "Playtron is coming out of stealth with $10 million in funding, roughly 18 employees, and a plan to challenge Microsoft, Valve, and Apple for the next hundred million gamers." The startup has presented lofty ambitions—their operating system (currently in Alpha) is said to run on all of the available mainstream portable gaming platforms. By the end of 2024: "you will...be able to install Playtron on your favorite handheld PC for the best gaming experience ever." McMaster and his colleagues are preparing "native devices" for an estimated launch in 2025—The Verge's exclusive coverage features an official mock-up of a 5G-enabled alternative to Valve's popular Steam Deck family.

MSI Claw A1M, the company's ambitious attempt at a handheld gaming console based on the Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" processor, instead of AMD Ryzen Z1 "Zen 4," goes on sale from March 8, 2024. This is according to a now-retracted Newegg store listing that mentions the release dates of the three Claw A1M models. The lineup is led by the Claw A1M powered by a Core Ultra 155H processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory, and 1 TB of NVMe SSD storage; for $799. For $50 less at $749, you get the same device, but with 512 GB of NVMe SSD storage. For a further $100 less, at $699, you get a model with the Core Ultra 5 135H processor, but the same 16 GB LPDDR5 memory, and 512 GB SSD, as the $749 model.

All three models feature a physically identical body design, including the controller layout, and lighting. Performance between the Core Ultra 7 155H and Core Ultra 5 135H models, is bound to differ. The 155H has a 6P+8E+2LP CPU core configuration, but more importantly, maxes out the Graphics Tile, with all 8 Xe cores being enabled (1,024 unified shaders). The Core Ultra 5 135H has a 4P+8E+2LP CPU core config, while its iGPU has 7 Xe cores. The star attraction with this console is its 7-inch touchscreen with 1080p resolution at 120 Hz refresh rate. Comms on all three models include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

MSI could be staggering the launch of its Intel Core Ultra-powered Claw gaming handheld, depending on regional availability—VideoCardz has observed contradictory release date data through UK retail channels. A confusing scenario is presented with some listings mentioning March 20, although others outline various dates going into April. MSI's German e-store appears to be the first outlet to have Claw units "in stock," although the active listing indicates that orders will start shipping on March 5. The pre-orderable "Handheld CLAW A1M-036" seems to be the most basic out of MSI's three launch SKUs—€849 (~$921) bags you a model that sports Intel's Core Ultra 5 135H APU and 512 GB of storage.

Preview samples are out in the wild—YouTube reviewers and influencers have started to show off their pre-release units, but Western embargoes are still in effect at the time of writing. Fairly comprehensive comparison videos emerged just over two weeks ago—courtesy of the "Please, Xiao Fengfeng" Bilibili video channel. The MSI Claw (Ultra 7-155H version) was compared to a close handheld rival; an ASUS ROG Ally (Ryzen Z1 Extreme). Overall, the AMD APU-based Ally seemed to outperform MSI's plucky new entrant—it is possible that the latter was disadvantaged with immature chipset drivers. Intel and its hardware partners are attempting to catch up with Team Red's more widespread release of portable-oriented APU packages—another Meteor Lake-based handheld gaming system, Tulpar, was demoed at a recent Intel Extreme Masters event.

AMD Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" mobile processors continue to roll out in all sorts of review sample guises—mostly within laptops/notebooks and handheld gaming PC segments. An example of the latter would be GPD's Hawk Point-refreshed Win Max 2 model—Cary Golomb, a tech reviewer and self-described evangelist of "PC Gaming Handhelds Since 2016" has acquired this device for benchmark comparison purposes. A Ryzen 7 8840U-powered GPD Win Max 2 model was pitched against similar devices that house older Team Red APU technologies. Golomb's collection included Valve's Steam Deck LCD model, and three "Phoenix" Ryzen 7840U-based GPD models. He did not have any top-of-the-line ASUS or Lenovo handhelds within reach, but the onboard Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU is a close relative of 7840U.

Golomb's social media post included a screenshot of a Batman: Arkham Knight "average frames per second" comparison chart—all devices were running on a low 10 W TDP setting. The overall verdict favors AMD's new Hawk Point part: "Steam Deck low TDP performance finally dethroned...GPD continues to make the best AMD devices. 8840U shouldn't be better, but everywhere I'm testing, it is consistently better across every TDP. TSP measuring similar." Hawk Point appears to be a slight upgrade over Phoenix—most of the generational improvements reside within a more capable XDNA NPU, so it is interesting to see that the 8840U outperforms its predecessor. They both sport AMD's Radeon 780M integrated graphics solution (RDNA 3), while the standard/first iteration Steam Deck makes do with an RDNA 2-era "Van Gogh" iGPU. Golomb found that the: "three other GPD 7840U devices behaved somewhat consistently."

Chinese review outlets have received MSI Claw sample units—the "Please, Xiao Fengfeng" Bilibili video channel has produced several comparison pieces detailing how the plucky Intel Meteor Lake-powered handheld stands up against its closest rival; ASUS ROG Ally. The latter utilizes an AMD Ryzen Z1 APU—in Extreme or Standard forms—many news outlets have pointed out that the Z1 Extreme processor is a slightly reworked Ryzen 7 7840U "Phoenix" processor. Intel and its handheld hardware partners have not dressed up Meteor Lake chips with alternative gaming monikers—simply put, the MSI Claw arrives with Core Ultra 7-155H or Ultra 5-135H processors onboard. The two rival systems both run on Window 11, and also share the same screen size, resolution, display technology (IPS) and 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 memory configuration. The almost eight months old ASUS handheld seems to outperform its near-launch competition.

Xiao Fengfeng's review (Ultra 7-155H versus Z1 Extreme) focuses on different power levels and how they affect handheld performance—the Claw and Ally have user selectable TDP modes. A VideoCardz analysis piece lays out key divergences: "Both companies offer easy TDP profile switches, allowing users to adjust performance based on the game's requirements or available battery life. The Claw's larger battery could theoretically offer more gaming time or higher TDP with the same battery life. The system can work at 40 W TDP level (but in reality it's between 35 and 40 watts)...In the Shadow of the Tomb Raider test, the Claw doesn't seem to outperform the ROG Ally. According to a Bilibili creator's test, the system falls short at four different power levels: 15 W, 20 W, 25 W, and max TDP (40 W for Claw and 30 W for Ally)."

The recently concluded Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) event (in Katowice, Poland) played host to another emerging Windows 11 handheld gaming computer—attendees spent hands-on time with potentially Meteor Lake APU-powered pre-release devices. International audiences were treated to a small selection of photos from IEM, as teased by Team Blue's Gaming division last weekend: "A new handheld PC is approaching. The Tulpar brings gaming on the go!" Exact details/specifications and user impressions have not reached the wider world, but many believe that rebadged Emdoor EM-GP080MTL units were showcased in Southern Poland last week. Tulpar is a subsidiary company of Turkish brand, Monster Notebook—it mainly sells gaming laptops and gear in UK and German markets.

Tulpar's mysterious handheld reportedly sports a seven inch display, indicating that it is a slightly smaller device when lined up against the EM-GP080MTL model (8-inch, 1200p). Internet sleuths reckon that the Tulpar shares many of the same technical underpinnings—general Emdoor OEM specs seem to include an unspecified Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake-H processor, Arc Graphics 5 and 32 GB LPDDR5X. The EM-GP080MTL was unveiled several months before the debut presentation of MSI's Claw—another Meteor Lake-H-based handheld—at last month's CES trade show. Later on, MSI confirmed that three distinct Claw SKUs will be heading to retail—with an entry-level version sporting Intel's Core Ultra 5-135H CPU, and more expensive options utilizing Core Ultra 7-155H processors.

The Manjaro Linux team exhibited Orange Pi Neo gaming handhelds at the annual FOSDEM event this past weekend. Attendees were welcomed to play around with early examples at the KDE booth in Brussels, Belgium—Orange Pi expressed its ambition (last year) to expand its single-board operation into the flourishing handheld gaming PC market. According to past reports, the Neo was teased throughout 2023—so it was not surprising to witness working prototypes in the hands of open-source enthusiasts in recent days. Orange Pi has selected AMD's Ryzen 7 7840U "Phoenix" APU—a laptop/notebook processor that is emerging as the de facto choice for many handheld gaming systems. The most globally available mainstream Windows 11 options—ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go—sport Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoCs, that are eerily similar in design to the popular Ryzen 7 7840U chip.

Orange Pi and Manjaro are targeting a late 2024 launch (according to Android Pimp)—this could place the Neo alongside potential next-generation devices with upgraded internals. Neo's unique selling point seems to be a slimmer (than normal) profile—the "ultra slim and small" handheld's dimensions are 259 mm x107 mm x 19.9 mm, coupled with a 7-inch FHD+ LCD screen (1920 x 1200, WUXGA, 16:10, 500 nits peak Brightness, 120 Hz Refresh Rate). A proper D-pad design and "YXBA" button layout indicate that a retro gaming-oriented playerbase is being targeted, although twin hall-effect sticks and linear triggers bring things firmly into the 2020s tech-wise.

The dust has barely settled after MSI's unveiling of their Claw A1M handheld gaming PC at last week's CES event, but discussions have already started regarding a potential successor. The Taiwanese multinational technology company appears keen to jump into an emerging market—Valve, ASUS ROG, Lenovo and a slew of smaller manufacturers have launched handheld gaming devices. The Claw stands out due to its unusual choice of SoC—an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H APU that deploys an 8-core Arc Xe-LPG iGPU—while everyone else has pretty much sided with AMD. IGN cornered Clifford Chun (MSI's System Product Managing Director) at CES 2024, where he was grilled on the topic of potential future iterations including spec upgrades and OLED displays: "So, just like our laptops, our aim for users who use this will be roughly two to three years because game titles demand a lot more every two or three years. So, at least minimum, that kind of stuff. Obviously, if you play retro games, you can play MSI Claw for 10 years."

Chun continued that line of thought: "So, this will be only the first version of our Claw. We are anticipating to come out version 2, version 3, version 4 down the road and it's already in the pipeline." Gaming hardware detectives posit, given the 2-3 year gap between models, that the next version of MSI's handheld gaming device could debut with Intel Panther Lake and Arc Xe 3 "Celestial" internals. When quizzed about future release windows, Chun did not commit to anything firm: "It really depends on, for example, the CPU or a graphic upgrade down the road. So, just keep in mind, and then just check it out. When something like this happens, do a refresh, and then you will anticipate that MSI will come out with something similar."

The current crop of PCIe Gen 5 based M.2 NVMe SSDs run scorching hot to deliver sequential transfer speeds of 10 GB/s, requiring some massive cooling solutions with tiny fans. All this might change, as Phison, a leading SSD controller manufacturer, unveiled three new controllers at the 2024 International CES. One of these that stands out, is the PS5031-E31T, which is built on the 7 nm node, and could power the first Gen 5 SSDs delivering 10 GB/s without elaborate cooling solutions. This is a big upgrade from the 12 nm node used by their first Gen 5 controllers. The PS5031-E31T is a DRAMless controller meant for mainstream Gen 5 SSDs. This controller has a 4-channel flash interface (16 CE), a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface, supports capacities of up to 8 TB, and is claimed by Phison to offer sequential transfer rates of up to 10.8 GB/s, and up to 1500K IOPS random access; exceeding the fastest Gen 4 SSDs.

Phison also updated its high-end controller lineup with the new PS5026-E26 Max14um. This is a variant of the E26 that's designed for the upcoming Micron B58R NAND flash chip that offers 2400 MT/s per channel transfers. Over the 8-channel interface of the E26, this finally unlocks sequential transfer speeds exceeding 14 GB/s reads, and 12.7 GB/s sequential writes. This is merely a revision of the existing E26 with updated power-optimized firmware, the underlying silicon is identical. The E26 Max14um is the first controller to surpass 1000 MB/s in all three PCMark 10 storage tests. We have a sample of an SSD powered by the E26 Max14um in our labs, and will post our review soon.

Chinese company Sipeed has introduced the Lichee Pocket 4A, one of the first handheld gaming devices based on the RISC-V open-source instruction set architecture (ISA). Sipeed positions the device as a retro gaming platform capable of running simple titles via software rendering or GPU acceleration. At its core is Alibaba's T-Head TH1520 processor featuring four 2.50 GHz Xuantie C910 RISC-V general-purpose CPU cores and an unnamed Imagination GPU. The chip was originally aimed at laptop designs. Memory options include 8 GB or 16 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 32 GB or 128 GB of storage. The Lichee Pocket 4A has a 7-inch 1280x800 LCD touchscreen, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity, and an array of wired ports like USB and Ethernet. It weighs under 500 grams. The device can run Android or Linux distributions like Debian, Ubuntu, and others.

As an early RISC-V gaming entrant, performance expectations should be modest—the focus is retro gaming and small indie titles, not modern AAA games. Specific gaming capabilities remain to be fully tested. However, the release helps showcase RISC-V's potential for consumer electronics and competitive positioning against proprietary ISAs like ARM. Pricing is still undefined, but another Sipeed handheld console retails for around $250 currently. Reception from enthusiasts and developers will demonstrate whether there's a viable market for RISC-V gaming devices. Success could encourage additional hardware experimentation efforts across emerging open architectures. With a 6000 mAh battery, battery life should be decent. Other specifications can be seen in the table below, and the pre-order link is here.

We have had to wait a bit longer for the launch of a lesser ASUS ROG Ally variant—the Windows 11 handheld gaming PC was officially revealed sporting an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU. A non-Extreme variant was teased to launch at a later date, which appears to be within the last couple of days—emerging first in North America. The more affordable—$599—offering has popped up for sale on Best Buy, and the ASUS store has a listing although it is currently "out of stock." This non-Extreme model's (RC71L-Z1512) arrival at retail coincides with Valve running a 20% price reduction on its Steam Deck handheld gaming range.

The $100 saving over the ROG Ally Extreme ($699) nets the customer largely identical features and specifications, apart from the main choice of APU. The Z1 non-Extreme chipset was analyzed earlier this month, with its "Phoenix 2" origin revealing usage of Zen 4c cores. The standard Z1 seems to be very similar in makeup to the mobile series Ryzen 5 7540U APU. The AMD Ryzen Z1 is a six-core Zen 4/Zen 4c APU with four RDNA 3 compute units, which is nowhere near as fierce as the "Phoenix 1" Ryzen Z1 Extreme—sporting eight cores (all Zen 4) and twelve RDNA 3 compute units.

The rumors of Nintendo's next-generation Switch handheld gaming console have been piling up ever since the competition in the handheld console market got more intense. Since the release of the original Switch, Valve has released Steam Deck, ASUS made ROG Ally, and others are also exploring the market. However, the next-generation Nintendo Switch 2 is closer and closer, as we have information about the chipset that will power this device. Thanks to Kepler_L2 on Twitter/X, we have the codenames of the upcoming processors. The first generation Switch came with NVIDIA's Tegra X1 SoC built on a 20 nm node. However, later on, NVIDIA supplied Nintendo with a Tegra X1+ SoC made on a 16 nm node. There were no performance increases recorded, just improved power efficiency. Both of them used four Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 cores with GM20B Maxwell GPUs.

For the Nintendo Switch 2, NVIDIA is said to utilize a customized variant of NVIDIA Jetson Orin SoC for automotive applications. The reference Orin SoC carries a codename T234, while this alleged adaptation has a T239 codename; the version is most likely optimized for power efficiency. The reference Orin design is a considerable uplift compared to the Tegra X1, as it boasts 12 Cortex-A78AE cores and LPDDR5 memory, along with Ampere GPU microarchitecture. Built on Samsung's 8 nm node, the efficiency would likely yield better battery life and position the second-generation Switch well among the now extended handheld gaming console market. However, including Ampere architecture would also bring technologies like DLSS, which would benefit the low-power SoC.

In the weeks leading up to Gamescom 2023 all sorts of Nintendo-related rumors started to spew forth—the boldest being a public unveiling of their much anticipated Switch successor during the conference segment. This did not transpire—of course—with Nintendo choosing to showcase existing games and hardware on the trade fair floor in Germany. Post-event murmurs proposed another highly unlikely circumstance—claims posted to social media and on forums pointed to a top secret demo session of "Switch 2" hardware occurring "behind closed doors" at Gamescom, with an elite set of development teams in attendance. These rumblings were largely dismissed due to unsubstantiated information coming from less than reliable sources.

Eurogamer and Video Games Chronicles (VGC) reached out to their cadre of industry insiders to find out more—newly published articles seem to align with recent leaks. The former understands that: "Developer presentations for Switch 2 took place behind closed doors, with partners shown tech demos of how well the system is designed to run. One Switch 2 demo is a souped up version of Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, designed to hit the Switch 2's beefier target specs. (To be clear, though - this is just a tech demo. There's no suggestion the game will be re-released." An insider familiar with the games industry in Spain alleged, a few months ago, that Switch 2 development kits had been delivered to a notable local development partner.

Tencent Games, the global leading video games platform, expects the market for cloud gaming and mobile devices to grow rapidly in the near future. Mobile and cloud gaming have experienced significant growth in the MENA region and Asia, and Tencent Games is strategically positioned to further bolster the burgeoning European market. In a strategic collaboration, Tencent Games has partnered with Logitech to introduce the Logitech G Cloud Handheld Console. This innovative handheld gaming device was officially launched in Europe in May 2023, marking an exciting milestone in the world of gaming. At IFA Berlin, Germany's largest consumer electronics trade show, Daniel Wu, General Manager of Tencent Games Innovation Lab says: "We are witnessing a growing preference for instant play. Handheld devices may very well emerge as the next significant gaming platform in the future. And we see great potential for cloud gaming."

Gameplay is witnessing continuous improvement. Players look for an ever more immersive gaming experience, with features such as 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution, smooth 60 Hz refresh rates, and cutting-edge Ray Tracing technology. As a result, requirements for game devices have increased significantly, and will continue to do so. Tencent Games expects that handheld devices will catch up to game development and will ultimately provide the best sound and graphics quality to player.

Lenovo's Legion Go handheld gaming system was uncovered by Windows Report over a week ago following a series of minor leaks emerging throughout the summer. Key points of discovery included an AMD Ryzen Z1 APU, detachable Joy-Con-esque controllers and Windows 11 being the operating system of choice. The news site has today divulged even more details, thanks to a trusted anonymous source sending in an official product press release. It seems that Lenovo is planning to unveil the Go and matching accessories (AR glasses & headphones) at next month's IFA 2023 trade fair in Berlin. The handheld gaming device could launch in early October, with the base model starting at $799 (MSRP).

According to the leaked document, Lenovo's Legion Go is specced with an 8.8 inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel 144 Hz refresh rate IPS LCD touchscreen display—its maximum brightness is allegedly rated at 500 nits. AMD's Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU—that debuted with the ASUS ROG Ally—appears to run the show. The leak also indicates that 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory is soldered to the Go's mainboard, alongside a user-replaceable PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD. The document infers that Lenovo is prepping variants with 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB SSD storage configurations.

Razer, the world's leading lifestyle brand for gamers, has once again set the mobile gaming world alight with their latest lineup additions. Spearheading this launch is the widely available Kishi V2 Pro, the extended reach of Razer Edge across Europe and Asia, and the new Xbox Editions of Kishi V2 for iPhone and Kishi V2 Pro for Android.

"At Razer, we believe in pushing the boundaries of what's possible in mobile gaming," said Alvin Cheung, Senior Vice President of Razer's Hardware Business Unit. "With the Kishi V2 line and the extended availability of the Razer Edge, we are empowering gamers to enjoy the full potential of what mobile gaming has to offer."

Back in May Sony officially revealed what was then known as Project Q, its first streaming only handheld gaming device. Since then, there have been multiple rumours about the specs and what the device will deliver and now, Sony has finally decided to launch the device as the PlayStation Portal. However, it appears that Sony is still keeping things under wraps, as not much new was announced in terms of the actual specs of the device, although we now know that the 8-inch, 1080p60 display is a touch display and it can act as a virtual touchpad. Other details that Sony shared in today's announcement was that the device will feature a 3.5 mm headset jack. With a US$199.99 MSRP it might end up being a popular accessory though, as Sony is asking for far less than the rumours suggested the PlayStation Portal would cost.

Sony also unveiled a pair of new headsets for the PS5, the Pulse Elite and the Pulse Explore. The latter was shown back in May. What was not known back then, was that Sony will be adding a new wireless audio specification to the PS5 called PlayStation Link. This will require a new USB dongle that ships with the headsets and can apparently also be used with PCs and Macs in a rather unusual move for Sony. PlayStation Link is said to be a low latency and lossless wireless audio solution, but the good news is that both headsets also support Bluetooth connectivity and can connect to a PlayStation Link dongle and a Bluetooth device simultaneously. Both the the Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore will feature planar magnetic drivers, which is a not common in gaming headset and even less so for earbuds like this. The Pulse Elite has a US$149.99 MSRP and the Pulse Explore will retail for US$199.99 when they launch later this year.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the all-new Snapdragon G Series handheld gaming portfolio, built to meet the unique performance and feature demands of dedicated gaming devices. The new Snapdragon G Series unlocks a range of options for playing the most sought-after games, offering boundless ways to play virtually any game, anywhere.

"Dedicated handheld gaming devices are the best way to experience mobile games. But gamers want to be able to play all their favorite games across devices and ecosystems, be it their console, PC, or on a cloud service" said Mithun Chandrasekhar, senior director of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "The new generation of Snapdragon G Series powered devices will be the best place for gamers to play their favorite titles, offering them the ability to choose from the cloud, console, Android, or PC while on-the-go."

After a couple of speculations, rumors, and leaks, the latest one confirms that Lenovo is indeed working on a handheld gaming console, the Legion Go, and it could be launching pretty soon. The latest leak shows it powered by AMD Ryzen Z1 APU and featuring detachable JoyCon-like controllers. It will run on Windows 11 OS and could be paired up with the Legion AR Glasses.

Unfortunately, the leak over at Windowsreport.com show does not include specifications, but according to pictures, it will feature dual speakers, two mics, microSD card reader, a couple of USB-C ports, dedicated FPS switch, a mouse wheel, integrated kickstand, and AMD Ryzen Z1 APU, same as the ASUS ROG Ally. Unfortunately, it is not clear if it will be the Ryzen Z1 or the Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU.

Competition in the handheld gaming PC space is heating up yet again with AYA NEO releasing more teaser material for its upcoming NEXT II model - an estimated late 2023 launch is touted. This model was first revealed last year, with the company choosing to drip feed information since then. We know that it will sport an 8-inch IPS display and be powered by an AMD Ryzen 7000 series APU, plus an unspecified discrete GPU. The ASUS ROG Ally handheld is similarly equipped with AMD mobile chipsets (albeit in slightly "Z1" and "Z1 Extreme" customized forms), but an integrated GPU takes care of graphics processing. In contrast the AYA NEO NEXT II has been designed to temper an APU and dGPU combination that can pull up to 100 W of power, so this package will offer far less portability when compared to the competition.

AYA NEO appears to be branching out in the creation of larger handheld gaming computers - the NEXT II is the chunkiest example so far - with more sizable options marked for release in the future. Comparisons to Valve's Steam Deck have been made due to AYA NEO's debuting of touchpads for this model - yet this new contender is a different beast thanks to a more traditional control layout and the system's reliance on a power outlet being nearby to sustain lengthy gaming sessions. The "semi-portable" nature of the NEXT II (plus proposed successors) is a curious prospect - will its unparalleled performance potential be enough to attract buyers or will its appeal be limited by being anchored to indoor environments?

Earlier today Nintendo released its financial/earning reports for the fiscal year ending March 2023, and company president Shuntaro Furukawa has briefed investors about sales forecasts, according to a report published by Bloomberg. Furukawa-san predicts that the Switch gaming console will only sell 15 million units over the next fiscal year - sales have been slowing down for a while according to Nintendo's figures, with almost 18 million units purchased throughout 2022-23. The numbers are still very impressive when you consider that Nintendo's flagship gaming platform has been on the market for just over six years - across that span of time, total unit sales have hit the 125.62 million mark.

Furukawa also informed shareholders about the prospect of a Switch console successor arriving within the next fiscal period - Bloomberg's article brings the bad news at this point - it seems that Nintendo is not anticipating a new hardware launch within that time frame. Nintendo's software release schedule - especially in regards to first party titles - looks very threadbare for the rest of the year. The much anticipated Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives on Friday (May 12) followed by Pikmin 4 in July, but things look to be quiet after that - unless Nintendo has a few surprises lined up for June's preview event season. Rumors of a next generation Switch have been doing the rounds since 2020, back then a "Pro" model was often touted - fans later found out that Nintendo had simply refreshed the system with an OLED panel, some tweaks to chipset efficiency, and updated the docking system to modern output standards - this premium model hit the market in late 2021.

AOKZOE is trying to drum up interest for its latest handheld gaming console - the A1 Pro - with a countdown to a type of early bird sale starting tomorrow. Early adopters will be offered a special starter price of just $799 for the baseline version, and that cost of entry will climb to $999 later on at retail. AOKZOE boasts that the A1 Pro is the first handheld gaming device to pack an AMD 7 7840U APU - a customized version of this SoC (AMD Z1 processor series) is set to debut as part of the ASUS ROG Ally handheld system. The current AOKZOE A1 model is powered by an older AMD Ryzen 7 6800U APU, which sat at the heart of various laptops and mobile gaming devices in 2022. This year's A1 Pro models are powerful enough to take on Valve's Steam Deck (and the previously mentioned ROG Ally) thanks to impressive internal specifications - AOKZOE reckons that the Pro upgrade offer a 20% performance leap over previous gen devices (6800U).

The Zen 4-based Ryzen 7 7840U APU, part of the "Phoenix" range of mobile processors, is available in all configurations of the A1 Pro - the base model gets 32 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage, and the headliner has 64 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage. AOKZOE states that the A1 Pro utilizes the LPDDR5-6400 RAM and PCIe 3.0 x4 standards - their handheld system is also capable of running M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 drives. The A1 Pro features an 8-inch FHD (1920 x 1200) IPS display - its nearest rivals have smaller 7-inch screens. Hardcore game controller enthusiasts will be happy to discover that hall effect sensor technology has been integrated into the new handheld's pair of analog sticks.