Microsoft and Asus Open Preorders for ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X

Microsoft and Asus on Wednesday opened preorders for two handheld gaming PCs under the Xbox brand, the ROG Xbox Ally and the higher-end ROG Xbox Ally X, with shipments scheduled to begin October 16, 2025. The standard Ally will retail for $599 and the Ally X for $999. Microsoft confirmed the Ally X sold out on the company store within hours of preorder launch, though the device remains available from some third-party retailers.

The Ally is built around an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor with 16 gigabytes of RAM and 512 gigabytes of storage. The Ally X uses a more powerful Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 24 gigabytes of RAM and a 1 terabyte drive. Microsoft and Asus say the devices will run Windows and will include a new Xbox Full screen experience interface intended to make PC storefronts and games more controller friendly by letting users install and launch titles from the Xbox Store, Battle.net and other services without navigating the Windows desktop. The company also announced a backend service intended to reduce shader-compilation stutter in games and said the new frontend can save up to about 2 gigabytes of RAM on handheld systems.

The hardware positions the Ally lineup alongside existing...