We now have new rumors about the ASUS ROG Ally’s pricing in Europe, as well as why we don’t know the details about the lower end model as of yet.
As translated on Reddit, WinFuture.DE revealed that the ASUS ROG Ally with the AMD Z1 Extreme CPU will sell in Europe for € 799.
We had previously reported that this same SKU of the ASUS ROG Ally will be retailing for $ 699. This is definitely cheaper than the prices that Europe is getting, but to be clear, that is unfortunately normal for gamers in Europe compared to the US.
The Steam Deck also has a similar price gap across regions. The pricing is affected by multiple factors, including taxes on imports.
What is likely to stay true is that the ASUS ROG Ally’s pricing will stay competitive to the Steam Deck. While it remains more expensive than the Steam Deck in Europe, the gap between the two will be comparatively low. It will definitely be lower compared to the many bespoke Windows gaming handhelds that precede the ASUS ROG Ally, such as the GPD Win 4 and Aya Neo Air.
As for why information has not emerged about the more low end version of the ASUS ROG Ally, WinFuture.DE has something to share too. They claim that this low end ASUS ROG Ally will be arriving at a much later date. This will be how ASUS releases the Ally SKUs in both the US and Europe, and presumably, that will be the case for the rest of the world as well.
It’s an interesting choice by the OEM, though it is possible that ASUS didn’t really get to choose this. While ASUS is definitely more capable of manufacturing to scale compared to companies like GPD and Aya Neo, they may be constrained by supply issues for the more basic AMD Z1 CPU.
Both chips, and therefore, both SKUs of the ASUS ROG Ally, will definitely boast a significant power advantage over the Steam Deck and its Zen 2 RDNA2 bespoke CPU. In fact, they Z1 chips are also expected to be more efficient and save more battery power, because they were designed for portable devices.
In any case, there is probably also bigger interest in the more powerful ASUS ROG Ally SKU, so ASUS will want to make sure to distribute and sell as many of those as possible first.
It certainly feels like the dawn of a new age of Windows gaming, as if ASUS proves successful, other OEMs will be coming out with their own Windows gaming handhelds in short order.
