TechPowerUp's team conducted research to find out how the market for handheld consoles performs and where its users are mostly going. The large community poll of 22,649 PC gamers, asking a simple "Do you game on a handheld console?" paints a solid picture of the customer base that a handheld console maker can expect. The majority, at 65.3% of the polled gamers, have chosen the option "No," indicating that two-thirds of PC gamers spend time on their main desktop or notebook PCs without using an additional handheld console. Among the 34.7% of respondents (7,852 votes) who game on the go, Valve's Steam Deck leads with 2,798 votes (35.6%), narrowly edging out Nintendo's Switch at 2,785 votes (35.5%).

ASUS's ROG Ally follows with 913 votes (11.6%), while "Other" devices, including Android emulators, retro‑focused units like the Analogue Pocket, and various mini‑PC handhelds, account for 810 votes (10.3%). Boutique Windows handhelds trail further behind, with the Lenovo Legion Go claiming 280 votes (3.6%) and the MSI Claw 266 votes (3.4%). Out of the entire fleet of these handhelds, only the Nintendo Switch is a real console. Others are mini portable PCs, which can serve functionality far beyond those of a console. Gamers are fond of the added functionality, which is why the Steam Deck, running Linux and Windows-based handhelds from ASUS, MSI, Lenovo, and others, are so popular.

Helegaly has confirmed that its highly anticipated Action Pi handheld console will go on sale on July 5, 2025, marking the end of months of anticipation since its initial reveal earlier this year. The base model, which includes a 64 GB microSD card, is priced at $59.99 and is available in black, pink, or white. Customers who require additional storage can upgrade to a 128 GB microSD card for an additional $5, bringing the total to $64.99. Pre-orders are now open through Helegaly's online store, and an Indigo "GameCube" edition is expected to arrive later this summer. You can register for an email notification when the orders are ready on Helegaly website here.

Inside its compact chassis, the Action Pi features an Allwinner A527 chipset with eight Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 2 GHz, a Mali-G57 MC1-2EE graphics processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of onboard eMMC storage. It runs the Linux-based Batocera operating system, which supports emulation for over 20 classic gaming platforms, ranging from 8-bit consoles to the PlayStation Portable and Dreamcast. The 4.02-inch IPS display delivers a crisp 960 × 720 resolution, and a 5,000 mAh battery ensures extended play sessions without frequent recharging. Connectivity options include two USB-C ports, a mini-HDMI output for mirroring gameplay on TVs or monitors, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a microSD card slot. Ergonomically, the handheld is equipped with Hall-effect analog sticks and a precise D-pad, all of which are laid out for comfortable, extended use.

"Real Gamers, Know Gamers", AYANEO has been exploring more possibilities for game handhelds. The evolution of the handheld experience goes beyond performance and also involves breakthroughs and innovations in form. AYANEO has created the first flip dual-screen Windows handheld - AYANEO FLIP DS, making innovation within reach. With User Experience at the core, we continuously improve every creative idea and detail to present a more pure and immersive dual-screen gaming experience. Now, the new generation of flip dual-screen Windows handheld, AYANEO FLIP 1S DS, is officially unveiled. It is not only a comprehensive upgrade of the FLIP DS but also a tribute to the classic feelings. Combining hardware upgrades, AI computing power, dual-screen interactive experience, and flagship-level performance, the FLIP 1S DS is not only a flagship flip handheld but also a productivity tool that combines portability and efficiency.

The FLIP 1S DS is equipped with a fully upgraded 7-inch 1080p OLED main screen that supports a high refresh rate of 144 Hz. The maximum global brightness reaches 800 nits, and the contrast and response speed are greatly improved, bringing users a more vivid, smoother and more immersive visual experience for handheld games. Whether it is a tense and exciting FPS game or a colorful adventure in another world, this screen can present it with extremely delicate image quality and smooth dynamics, giving players an immersive visual experience.

AMD's Z2 series of processors for handheld gaming devices has been expanded with a pair of new chips, namely the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and the Ryzen Z2 A. From AMD's naming scheme, one would assume that the two are quite similar, but if you've kept track of AMD's Z2 product lineup, you're most likely already aware that there are some major differences between the three older SKUs and this time around, we get a further change at the low-end. The new top of the range chip, the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme appears to be largely the same SoC as the older Ryzen Z2 Extreme, with the addition of a 50 TOPS NPU for AI tasks, which appears to be shared with many of AMD's mobile SoCs.

However, the new low-end entry, the Ryzen Z2 A appears to have more in common with the Steamdeck SoC, than any of the other Z2 chips. It sports a quad core, eight thread Zen 2 CPU, an RDNA 2 based GPU with a mere eight CUs and support for LPDDR5-6400 memory. On the plus side, it has a TDP range of 6-20 Watts, suggesting it would allow for better battery life, assuming devices based on it get a similar size battery as a handheld based on one of the higher-end Z2 SoCs. ASUS is using both of these chips in its two new ROG Ally handheld gaming devices, but Lenovo is expected to follow shortly with its own handheld devices.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) is proud to announce an all-new series of Ally handhelds built from the ground up with improved ergonomics and a seamless player-first user experience. Developed in partnership with the incredible team at Xbox, the new ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X offer best-in-class ergonomics and a full-screen Xbox experience that marries the best of Xbox and PC gaming in one cohesive package.

"We wanted to take our handheld to the next level, but we could not do it alone." said Shawn Yen, Head of the Consumer product team at ASUS. "This revolutionary partnership with Microsoft allowed us to forge a brand new device with ROG muscle and the soul of Xbox." The ROG Xbox Ally sports an AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor with incredible power efficiency, while the ROG Xbox Ally X offers the new AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor for next-level gaming performance. Both launch holiday 2025 in select markets, with additional markets to follow.

Nintendo's Switch 2 hybrid console is due to arrive at retail tomorrow (June 5), and pre-launch marketing campaigns are in full swing. The Japanese gaming giant has called in a high profile partner—Jensen Huang—to add some surprisingly technical heft during hype festivities. At this stage in time, NVIDIA's Tegra "T239" chipset is a well known quantity—thanks to years of leaked "internal info," and disabled examples turning up for close analysis in China. Industry experts did not anticipate Nintendo's fairly frank discussions that covered Switch 2's hardware capabilities. The Nintendo "Creator's Voice" video series has featured a number of high-profile third-party software development buddies (including CD Projekt RED), but yesterday's Team Green CEO contribution received widespread press attention.

Jensen paid tribute to Satoru Iwata, a former and much missed Nintendo president. Their collaboration started during the era of OG Switch development: "he wanted to create something no one had seen before. A console powerful enough for big, cinematic games—but small enough to take anywhere. It sounded impossible. But that vision became the original Nintendo Switch. We lost Iwata-san before the launch, but his clarity, his purpose, it still inspires our work every day. Together, we poured everything into that system." As mentioned back in April, NVIDIA dedicated significant resources into making their latest "technical marvel."

Charles Tremblay, CD Projekt RED's Technology Vice President, has been fielding questions from members of the press—regarding the forthcoming Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. Large portions of the company's Polish and North American/Canadian teams are concentrating on next-gen projects (respectively, Witcher 4 and "Cyberpunk 2"), but a smaller group has worked on porting a current sci-fi title onto Nintendo's NVIDIA Custom SoC-powered hybrid console. Despite arriving almost five years ago, Cyberpunk 2077 has remained a firm favorite—especially as a gauge of hardware capabilities, across PC and home console platforms. Since then, the developer's in-house REDengine has been dropped from primary activities. Epic's ubiquitous Unreal Engine 5 will serve as the technological foundation for future CD Projekt RED IPs.

In an interview conducted by IGN, Tremblay outlined the challenges his team faced when dealing with REDengine 4 and Switch 2: "we have very key people in here that know exactly how to make Cyberpunk run. Cyberpunk is built for x86 with old PC architecture. So, from the beginning this was completely different. Lots of changes had to be done at the engine level, all the shaders (are in a) different language. We had to convert everything, some HLSL to GLSL. (The Switch 2 utilizes) a very, very different architecture." In another Q&A session (with NintendoLife), the Tech VP mentioned a roping in of external assistance (from Hungary and Japan): "all development is being done in-house, with support from Yigsoft when it comes to incorporating the Nintendo Switch 2 specific features, and support from Nintendo when it comes to overcoming all the fun challenges that come with creating for new hardware."

GeForce NOW is supercharging Valve's Steam Deck with a new native app—delivering the high-quality GeForce RTX-powered gameplay members are used to on a portable handheld device. It's perfect to pair with the six new games available this week, including Tokyo Xtreme Racing from Japanese game developer Genki.

Stream Deck
At the CES trade show in January, GeForce NOW announced a native app for the Steam Deck, unlocking the full potential of Valve's handheld device for cloud gaming. The app is now available, and gamers can stream titles on the Steam Deck at up to 4K 60 frames per second—connected to a TV—with HDR10, NVIDIA DLSS 4 and Reflex technologies on supported titles. Plus, members can run these games at settings and performance levels that aren't possible natively on the Steam Deck. To top it off, Steam Deck users can enjoy up to 50% longer battery life when streaming from an RTX gaming rig in the cloud.

Zotac is set to unveil the next generation of its Gaming Zone handheld at Computex in Taiwan later this month, following its initial entry into the portable gaming PC market last summer. This upcoming device will feature the powerful AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and, surprisingly, will run on a custom Manjaro Linux-based operating system specifically designed for handheld devices as reported by Liliputing. This represents a departure from using Windows or adopting Valve's SteamOS, which powers the popular Steam Deck.

The next-gen Zotac Gaming Zone will boast a 7-inch OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Inside, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Strix Point chip makes a big leap in performance compared to the first version (the first-gen Zotac Gaming Zone featured an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U Hawk Point processor with an 8-core Zen 4 CPU and 12-core RDNA 3 graphics). It has 12 Zen 5 CPU cores and 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units. It also comes with a better NPU to handle AI tasks. Other features include LPDDR5x memory, a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slot (M.2 2280), Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, two USB4 ports and a 48.5Wh battery.

Last December, MSI announced the launch of its Intel "Lunar Lake" APU-powered Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ PC gaming handhelds. Almost two months later, international buyers were left puzzled by a seemingly staggered new product rollout. Despite proudly exhibiting finalized "Sandstorm-colored" units at CES 2025, North American buyers missed out on experiencing a (semi-promised) mid-January release. By March, the brand had fired up its new-gen Claw device marketing campaign again. It is not clear whether MSI shipped a lot of stock to international markets, but fresh news reports indicate an upcoming arrival of their "Polar Tempest Edition" 2 TB variant. As disclosed by Notebookcheck, this special model popped up momentarily earlier on last month.

Re-upped listings point to a potential mid-July launch; starting prices in the US are hovering around the $999 mark. Amazon Germany is accepting orders; €1107.21 (including VAT) grants access to MSI's slightly redecorated Core Ultra 7 258V-powered flagship. The manufacturer's dedicated product page states: "(our) Polar Tempest Edition features a new color scheme and MSI's custom-formulated polyurethane coating, evoking ice-blue crystals on a snow-white landscape." Despite Intel's recent boosting of "Lunar Lake" integrated graphics solution performance, the Claw 8 AI+ (and its 7-inch sibling) face strong "next-gen" competition. ASUS seems to be readying a ROG Ally sequel—according to leaks, this portable PC will make use of AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor. A distant "third-gen" MSI Claw design could be equipped with futuristic Intel gaming chipsets; in "Arrow Lake-H" or "Panther Lake" form.

Nintendo's Switch 2 hybrid console is set to arrive early next month (June 5), complete with promised launch prices. Early last month, the company's basic cost of entry for next-gen access—$450 (US)—seemed to be on tenuous ground. Nintendo and its retail partners decided to postpone their opening of pre-orders—affecting excited customers in the United States, then (days later) in Canada. Thanks to political posturing, a number of big industry players had to restrategize. Late last week, Microsoft announced their implementation of global Xbox Series price increases. In April, Sony revealed similar changes for PlayStation 5; restricted to select market territories. Nintendo has allowed a re-opening of Switch 2 pre-orders; gamers can secure core hardware at original MSRPs. Unfortunately, a compromise was made—first-party Switch 2 accessories will be more expensive, on launch day and beyond.

During a recent call with investors, Nintendo's president—Shuntaro Furukawa—confirmed that their core hardware pricing is subject to change. Launch price tags are safe (for the moment); the company will need to radiate some goodwill during their next-gen design's salad days. Commenting on a shifting political landscape, Furukawa-san stated: "at this time, the top priority is to quickly popularize the Switch 2 hardware...If the assumptions regarding tariffs change significantly, we would like to consider what price adjustments we should make, and implement them after considering various factors." Industry analysis has produced a scary projection; worst case scenarios could send tech prices up by roughly 70%. Considering the vintage of Switch 2's alleged internals, gaming hardware enthusiasts have questioned the value offered by this $450 hybrid handheld.

Get ready to unfold the next big thing in retro gaming—introducing the ANBERNIC RG 34XXSP, where classic handheld nostalgia meets cutting-edge functionality.

Four Iconic Colors, One Legendary Design
Paying tribute to the golden age of handheld consoles, the RG 34XXSP sports a clamshell form factor—compact, durable, and ultraportable. Choose from four nostalgic colorways: Yellow, Indigo, Black, and Gray.

On April 28th, the retro horizontal Android handheld, the AYANEO Pocket ACE, was officially released. With its golden size, top-tier aesthetics, and explosive performance, the Pocket ACE is a complete upgrade over traditional horizontal retro handheld. It's an performance powerhouse in a compact form, a true gamer-centric Android handheld, and is set to become the dream device that retro gaming enthusiasts will not be able to put down.

AYANEO Pocket ACE is equipped with a 4.5-inch 3:2 IPS ultra-clear True color display, housed in a sleek, lightweight body with powerful cooling. Powered by Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 gaming platform running at full 15 W performance and paired with a 6000mAh large battery, it delivers long-lasting, uninterrupted gameplay.

AMD today announced that it will be hosting a press conference during Computex 2025. The in-person and livestreamed press conference will take place on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 11 a.m. UTC+8, Taipei, at the Grand Hyatt, Taipei. The event will showcase the advancements AMD has driven with AI in gaming, PCs and professional workloads.

AMD senior vice president and general manager of the Computing and Graphics Group Jack Huynh, along with industry partners, will discuss how AMD is expanding its leadership across gaming, workstations, and AI PCs, and highlight the breadth of the company's high-performance computing and AI product portfolio. The livestream will start at 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 20 on AMD.com, with replay available after the conclusion of the livestream event.

Sony and Microsoft seem to be involved in the development of handheld gaming consoles, but insiders reckon that respective next-generation offerings will not directly compete with each other. Xbox and ASUS have signalled some sort of collaborative ROG Alloy-esque device; potentially releasing later on in 2025. Whispers of a futuristic PlayStation portable model's chipset design emerged mid-way through March; courtesy of Kepler_L2. The notorious leaker has recent history of reporting inside track knowledge of AMD CPU and GPU architectures/technologies. They alleged that Sony and Team Red's collaborative PS6 APU design project had reached a finalized stage of development, possibly around late 2024/early 2025. Returning to March/April events; Kepler_L2 theorized that a "PS6 Portable" would not be capable of surpassing PlayStation 5 (home console) level performance upon launch in 2028.

The mysterious handheld is said to be powered by a "15 W SoC" manufactured on a non-specific 3 nm node process. Elaborating further, they posit that PlayStation's rumored handheld is capable of running PS5 generation games—bandwidth and power restrictions could reduce resolution and frame rates below that of Sony's current-gen system. Kepler_L2 pictures "PS6 Portable" gaming performance being somewhere in-between Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 (non-Pro). According to rumors, the handheld's chipset is not related or derived from the PS6 home console's internal setup. Kepler_L2 envisioned a mobile SoC with fewer than 40 compute units (CUs)—several media outlets have added their interpretation of this data point; with a sub-36 count. PlayStation 5's GPU aspect consists of 36 CUs, while the Xbox Series S graphics solution makes do with 20 units. Sony's speculated return to portable territories will be welcomed by owners of older handheld models—namely the Vita and PSP. Famously, these portable products struggled to keep up with competing Nintendo devices.

Today, we are proud to announce the release of the next version of our launcher software for the ZOTAC GAMING ZONE Handheld, which features a revamped interface and major changes to improve usability on our handheld gaming console. In this blog post, we will talk about some of the major changes of the software, and how to update to this version from pre-2.0 launcher version.

Major Changes
Button Mapping
The latest One Launcher update introduces a refined button mapping system designed for streamlined customization. After selecting the gamepad mapping option, the Launcher will now prompt you to assign a profile to a specific game, simplifying your setup process. This update also expands button mapping possibilities - you can now map any button on the handheld to a wider range of inputs, including keyboard and mouse buttons for games that doesn't natively support gamepads. For even greater control, we've added Joystick dead zone, curve and threshold settings, alongside adjustable trigger pull range settings, offering a wider range of configurability to suit your playstyle. Finally, the Radial Dials now share the same versatile assignment options as any other button on the ZONE - they can be assigned to gamepad, keyboard, and mouse inputs - alongside a few new hotkeys for convenient access to system utilities.

A few months ago, the OneXPlayer X1 Pro gaming handheld became one of the first in its category to boast AMD's 12-core Ryzen AI HX 370 'Strix Point' APU. The product also packed a pretty large 10.95-inch 120 Hz, 2560 x 1600 display as well as up to 64 GB of memory and a whopping 4 TB of internal solid-state storage. Now, the company behind the product has introduced a fresh new limited-edition variant named 'EVA' with a Neon Genesis-based theme and Arrow Lake-H internals. To be specific, this variant will boast Intel's Core Ultra 7 255H processor along with an eye-watering $1650 price tag.

The 16-core Core Ultra 7 255H will be paired with 64 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and 2 TB of SSD storage will be on offer. Unlike the AMD-powered variant, lower-end SKUs with 32 GB of memory and lesser storage space are not available. In terms of performance, the systems are quite neck-and-neck, which makes sense considering that the equivalent configurations are priced identically. The AMD APU has the lead in multicore performance, while the Intel part leads in single-core. In terms of GPU performance, the Arc 140T is quite a bit faster than the Radeon 890M, at least in synthetic tests. Real-life gaming performance is very similar, although performance varies heavily depending on the game being played.

As a pioneer in self-developed software for Windows handhelds, AYANEO has always adhered to integrated hardware and software development, continuously delivering exceptional user experiences that exceed gamers' expectations. Today, the highly acclaimed handheld management software AYASpace 3.0 has launched a newly upgraded beta version. Not only does it offer deep optimization and exclusive features for the modular flagship device AYANEO 3, but it also provides comprehensive support for all released AYANEO Windows handhelds and Mini PCs, including the FLIP, SLIDE, KUN, 2S, 2, GEEK, and AIR series. Gamers are welcome to upgrade and experience these enhancements while supporting AYANEO's software optimization with their valuable feedback!

AYASpace 3.0: The Era of All-in-One Intelligent Control Begins
AYASpace 3.0 has been completely upgraded in terms of interface design and functional logic, achieving dual improvements in "modern aesthetics" and "high-performance efficiency"：The UI interaction has been fully optimized, with a new "Device" section added. Quick-access features have made a complete return, and the keyboard/mouse mode has been reconstructed.

Not too long ago, Storm City Retro's Ebay store listed an unusual Steam Deck model—the original asking price was $2999.99, although potential buyers were allowed to bid with "best offers." The sales page was titled: "Early Valve Engineering 34 Prototype Steam Deck 256 GB, Tested, Please Read!" Gary_the_mememachine—a member of the Steam Deck subreddit—reported an eventual successful transaction, on April 8. The seller—a "primarily online" Kirkland, Washington-based retro video specialist—managed to attract a buyer; who apparently bagged "Engineering Sample No. 34" for a cool two thousand bucks. Given the presence of a sticker that states "not for resale," Valve is likely not enthused by the appearance of pre-commercial phase hardware via second hand channels. The company's Bellevue HQ is located not too far away from Storm City Retro's placement; both being in the Greater Seattle (Pacific NW) area. Kotaku reached out to its contacts at Valve, but a spokesperson has not provided a comment regarding the alleged leak of an AMD "Picasso" APU-powered engineering sample.

Handheld gaming device experts have analyzed saved screenshots and photos; prototype number 34 seems to of February 2020 vintage. It was compared to various "officially revealed" prototype units—as seen in an informative infographic. An exact match was not found in this compilation, but it is obvious that No. 34 differs greatly—externally and internally—when lined up against final retail models. In 2022, Pierre-Loup Griffais—one of the architects of SteamOS—provided some insight about a similar looking proto device: "the best part is that they (mostly) all still boot, serving as an exciting reminder of how far things have come since. This one has a Picasso APU, at about half of the GPU power of the final Deck. The flatter ergo was an interesting experiment and taught us a ton about comfort." The Steam Deck LCD model launched back in early 2022, with a custom 7 nm AMD Ryzen "Aerith" APU onboard—utilizing Zen 2 + processor cores and RDNA 2 graphics architecture. An OLED refresh arrived over a year later with a die shrink; now 6 nm. Team Red had kindly prepared a more efficient Ryzen "Sephiroth" mobile processor design.

Three months ago, AMD unveiled its Ryzen Z2 APU series at CES 2025—purpose made for deployment in next-gen handheld gaming PCs. The officially announced flagship—Ryzen Z2 Extreme "Strix Point," utilizing Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 technologies—was previously alluded to by leakers in late 2024; albeit with some curious claims regarding an "odd 3+5 core configuration." Last week, Hoang Anh Phu (@AnhPhuH) presented an alleged expanded lineup of Ryzen Z2 processors—headlined by a mysterious "Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme" SKU.

PC hardware watchdogs believe that this speculative variant will eventually arrive with an enabled XDNA 2 NPU (a first for the series); likely readied to take on Intel's Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor family. MSI's Core Ultra 7 258V-powered Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ handhelds launched not too long ago, boasting all sorts of Microsoft Copilot+ capabilities. Mid-way through March, an Xbox executive introduced "Copilot for Gaming." Team Red and manufacturing partners are likely jumping onto this "AI gaming" bandwagon with the aforementioned "AI Ryzen Z2 Extreme" chip, as well as Phu's fanciful "Ryzen Z2 A" model. The latter could be a spin-off of AMD's vanilla Ryzen Z2 "Hawk Point" design, with a "switched on" XDNA NPU.

AYANEO today officially launched its latest retro-style Android handheld, the AYANEO Pocket ACE. Featuring a horizontal retro design, this handheld is exquisitely crafted, elegant, and portable, while being powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 gaming platform for top-tier performance that effortlessly handles both classic games and popular mobile titles. Upholding its philosophy of "Real Gamers, Know Gamers," AYANEO once again pushes the boundaries of retro horizontal handheld gaming with the Pocket ACE.

Honoring Classics, Reinventing Elegance - Inheriting the brand's aesthetic DNA, retro design meets modern craftsmanship. The AYANEO Pocket ACE continues the brand's design philosophy, paying homage to classic horizontal handhelds while incorporating modern manufacturing techniques to breathe new life into the form. Its sleek, flowing body and meticulously refined button layout deliver a comfortable grip, allowing players to experience the perfect fusion of retro charm and contemporary refinement in every gaming session.

The first MSI Claw was designed for ergonomic comfort and seamless gaming across platforms like Steam, Ubisoft, and Xbox. It even handled mobile games effortlessly. Now, thanks to valuable feedback from our community, we've made significant improvements in both hardware and software for the next generation—introducing the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+, powered by the latest Intel Lunar Lake processor for enhanced performance and efficiency.

Key Upgrades Based on Community Feedback
1) Enhanced Connectivity with Dual Thunderbolt 4 Ports. Both the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ now feature two Thunderbolt 4 ports, allowing you to connect an external SSD without unplugging the power cord. This ensures greater flexibility and seamless gameplay.

Not that long ago, an Xbox executive claimed that an Xbox handheld gaming device is still in the prototyping stage, with a launch expected to take place sometime in the next two to three years. There is no denying that the handheld segment is an incredibly lucrative space, boosted by the impressive performance and efficiency gains made by the chip giants in recent years. Microsoft clearly intends to take a piece of the pie, and as a recent report by Windows Central pointed out, the first Xbox-branded handheld is in development and may even see the light of day as early as the third or fourth quarter of this year. Now, a fresh report by The Verge has revealed that Microsoft might be collaborating with ASUS in order to bring the handheld gaming device to market.

This is quite interesting, considering that ASUS is one of the most well-known players in the handheld segment, thanks to its ROG Ally lineup. But the conflict of interest shouldn't be much of a hassle - Lenovo is also a major player in the segment, and did not hesitate teaming up with Valve to bring the first third-party SteamOS handheld to the market. Microsoft is likely targeting something similar, intending to combine Xbox and Windows platforms in order to improve the experience for developers and players alike, allowing better inter-compatibility of games between handheld, PC, and console platforms. Essentially, the handheld will reportedly feature an Xbox-like interface, but will be powered by Windows underneath. The aforementioned late-2025 launch timeline is still in place, but considering the very nature of early reports, accept this information with a grain of salt.

Retroid, a popular brand of retro gaming handhelds, has finally revealed the specifications for its upcoming product - the Retro Pocket Classic. As the name suggests, the product will boast a compact form factor that screams retro vibes. The company has revealed multiple teasers for the device in the past, and has now shed light on the detailed specifications of the same. As teased, the Pocket Classic will boast a 3.92-inch AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 500 nits and a resolution of 1,240 x 1080 allowing for an impressive pixel density of 419.

Internally, an undisclosed 4 nm Qualcomm SoC will sit at the heart of the device, paired with 4 GB of LPDDR4X memory and 64 GB of eMMC storage. The product will boast an active cooling solution, which should allow for longer play times without any severe throttling issues. Speaking of longer play times, the Pocket Classic will boast a 5,000-mAh battery with 27-watt charging support. At just 13.8 x 8.9 x 2.6 cm, the Pocket Classic weighs in at just 223 grams. As for connectivity, a USB-C port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, as well as a TF card slot. Wireless communications will be taken care of by Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 5. Pricing and availability details are under wraps for now, but when the time comes, the Pocket Classic will ship with Android 14 pre-installed.

Handheld enthusiasts are likely quite familiar with tiny laptops that intend to function as handheld gaming consoles. The company Winstron has a different vision for the segment, however, which has been depicted by the company's latest concept - the Winstron Dual Fusion. Considering that this product is very much in the concept stage, we have no details regarding specifications, pricing, or availability. That said, the concept laptop sure does look quite interesting.

Instead of shrinking a laptop down to the size of a handheld, Winstron's Dual Fusion package consists of a typically sized laptop with a detachable palm rest area. This section, will include a display where the trackpad is present, flanked by controls on either side that disappear when the module is attached to the host system. The handheld module is not standalone, unsurprisingly, and is only meant to act as a streaming companion for the laptop. The handheld module will also include a 180-degree hinge, in order to allow for the display to flip and switch positions with the touchpad on the other side. As stated previously, Winstron has yet to reveal any plans for manufacturing the device, and as always, the rest remains to be seen with time.