ROG Xbox Ally X20 adds OLED screen, control upgrades

When the Steam Deck OLED launched three years ago, we were glad to see that the new, more brilliant screen fixed the biggest flaw of Valve’s original handheld hardware. So we’re unsurprisingly excited about today’s announcement that Asus is preparing a new, OLED-equipped ROG Xbox Ally X20 for the coming holiday season. Still, it’s a bit worrying that Asus is positioning the new upgrade as a niche collector’s item rather than its new handheld gaming standard.

The X20 expands the 7-inch screen found on last year’s ROG Xbox Ally line to 7.4 inches, matching the display on the Steam Deck OLED and approaching the 7.9-inch screen on the Switch 2. The 1080p HDR panel also increases the maximum brightness from 500 nits on original Xbox Ally models to a full 1400 and adds some new anti-glare coating that should help when playing in direct sunlight. The X20’s 120 Hz display now supports Dolby Vision HDR colors and FreeSync Premium Pro to help smooth frame rates while still providing a larger color gamut.

On the control front, the X20 introduces magnetic TMR thumbsticks, replacing the carbon-film potentiometers that made the original Xbox Ally more prone to stick drift and physical wear. A new D-pad on the X20 also introduces a neat little lift-and-twist design that can transform it from a four-direction cross to a more circular eight-direction pad, similar to the convertible D-pad found on some now-classic Xbox 360 controllers.

Press outlets that got early hands-on time with the X20 reported a few other incidental upgrades, such as quieter, more rounded face buttons and better-feeling rubberized grips on the translucent black-and-gold shell.

Hope you like augmented reality

Even though the internal specs on the X20 are unchanged from last year’s ROG Xbox Ally X, the surface improvements sound like a welcome refresh to Asus’ promising line of handheld gaming PCs. Unfortunately, Asus seems to be positioning the X20 as a limited-edition bundled curiosity rather than a new standard-bearer for handheld gaming.

That’s because today’s announcement of the ROG Xbox Ally X was really an announcement of an “All-New ROG Xbox Ally X20 bundle,” as Asus puts it (emphasis added). The hardware is currently positioned only as part of a special “20th anniversary” bundle that also includes a pair of Xreal R1 AR glasses. Tethering those glasses to the X20 hardware via USB gives users what Asus promises is a 171-inch virtual screen that can either move with them or stay fixed in virtual space as they move their head.

This AR glasses bundle was the only package Asus announced today. Credit: Asus

While those kinds of “virtual display” glasses have their fans, they seem much better suited to being a premium optional accessory than a standard inclusion with every device. Asus already sells Xreal R1 glasses for $850, and the ROG Xbox Ally X was retailing for $1,000 last year, before RAM and storage prices sent prices for game consoles and other computing devices soaring.

While Asus isn’t discussing pricing yet, a bundle price approaching or exceeding $2,000 doesn’t seem out of the question when the X20 launches later this year. That price—plus the “Asus’ 20th anniversary” branding for the hardware—would suggest a device with a very limited market and thus a limited production run.

That would be a shame—the upgrades available in the X20 could find a decent audience if they weren’t literally tethered to a pair of expensive AR glasses. Hopefully, Asus will offer a standalone version of the ROG Xbox Ally X20 hardware that will remain available long after the 20th anniversary bundling ends.