It’s been more than two years since the original ASUS ROG Ally was announced, and just past a year since the ROG Ally X debuted. After a teaser on April 1 got everyone excited about the ROG Ally 2, it appears that we’re nearing the launch of two new ASUS handhelds.
Our little robot friend is cooking something up…#ROG #ROGALLY #PlayALLYourGames #NextLevelGaming pic.twitter.com/nDG7rlEIhH
— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) March 31, 2025
We’ve heard rumblings about the next flagship ROG Ally, and thanks to the FCC, we’re getting our first look at what’s to come. Instead of just releasing one new version, ASUS is taking the Lenovo route and offering two different iterations, as there’s an “Xbox Edition” to go along with the standard version.
via FCC
Both handhelds recently passed through the FCC (via 91mobiles), confirming the design changes, along with a few other bits of information. Both ROG Ally 2 models will feature a 7-inch display, complete with a 120Hz refresh rate, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
via FCC
AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme powers the Black model, and we could see at least one configuration sporting 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM, while carrying a model number of “RC73XA.” Meanwhile, the White model (RC73YA) is powered by the AMD Aeirth Plus SoC, but the amount of RAM is currently unknown.
That being said, the real story here is the design, as ASUS has completely overhauled the grips. To many, it’s reminiscent of the GameCube controller, with Ban pointing out that it looks like the GameCube ASCII Keyboard Controller, and I’d have to agree.
However, I’m also intrigued to see how comfortable it is to use for longer gaming sessions, as I haven’t found either the ROG Ally or Ally X to be quite as comfortable as the Legion Go S or Steam Deck. So while it might look goofy, this might offer the ergonomics improvement I’ve been looking for.
Besides that, the only other difference that we can see is the addition of a third button to the left of the screen. On the Black model, we’ll have a dedicated Xbox button, while the White version has the same button, just without the Xbox logo. So it’s likely that this will just be another launcher shortcut, but we’ll have to wait to know for sure.
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- via FCC
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- via FCC
Along the top, the dual USB-C ports return, wedged between the left bumper and the volume rocker. On the opposite side, the Power button is flanked by a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card slot. Unfortunately, we can’t tell whether there are any additional ports built into the bottom of the handheld.
Up to this point, we’ve seen handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go S, MSI Claw 7 AI+, and 8 AI+, to go along with a few others. However, with the ROG Ally 2 passing through the FCC, we likely don’t have too much longer to wait for a couple more options to hit the market.
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Well that’s great and all.. doesn’t seem to be much improvement perfor.ance wise from the prior model. Im a little peeved there is such a new and improved model coming out just the next year from the Ally X, which I just got into the modern handheld experience and forked out a ton of monies to do so for there just to be a new kid on the block coming out. Not very happy about that fact, but I’m interested to see how the Xbox edition pans out as I am a xbox gamer as well. Honestly, that’s the biggest part of why I got into the handheld market was to be able to play with mobility. I bought the Ally X, with some nice upgrades to memory to allow me to play my games on a few platforms, Xbox and Steam, and also check my emails, social media and stream all together.. so with a new edition coming so soon and not having a heads up and thinking I will be good for a while just makes me think they just took my money and ran just to tease tempt me with the new model right behind it. So I guess we will see if this thi g is worth the upgrade and if I’ll be selling g my new gadget to someone interested in used has been equipment and take the loss on my very expensive new endeavor to get the upgraded version. Ah, the pains of staying current of the electronics race. Too fast, too fast..
It’s a PC. Every year they will release something new. If you wait for the new one you’ll always be waiting. What you have is fine. They Ally then Ally X is more of a slap in the face because if they released higher spec version when it was initially launched I would have paid more for the extra battery and ram.