The gaming handheld market is going through unexpected challenges, with recent price hikes and shortages affecting several major companies. Two clear examples of this market disruption are the Asus ROG Ally X and the Lenovo Legion Go S, which are seeing price changes and stock issues.
Both devices saw a sudden and significant price increase of $100 in the U.S. market. The Asus ROG Ally X, which originally cost $799, now sells for $899. Similarly, the Lenovo Legion Go S, which was initially supposed tolaunch at $499, now has a price of$759.99 on the official website. These increases happened just before the June 5 launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 and the June 8 announcement of the Microsoft Xbox Ally.
The fact that both devices increased in price at the same time suggests a wider market issue rather than problems specific to each company. It is possible that it could be due to past trade policies, including the possible lingering impact of earlier tariffs, but the companies haven’t made any statements on why the change happened.
Adding to the confusion is the temporary pause in sales of the 1TB Steam Deck OLED model in the U.S. and Canada. Valve said this was due to “unspecified supply chain problems” and expects the device to be back in stock by the end of summer, with plans to keep the current price of $649. You can always buy the 512GB Steam Deck OLED model, priced at$549, on the Steam pageinstead.
The MSI Claw AI 8 Plus has also shot up to$999.00 on Amazon, only shortly after its release, which makes it seem like no handheld is immune to whatever is causing all of these issues. The higher prices seem to shrink the already small advantage that Windows-based devices had over their competitors.
The Nintendo Switch 2 also seems to have a few issues, as many complained about theirorders getting canceledwithout their permission. With Steam and Nintendo having issues keeping stock up, there must be some underlying issue that we aren’t privy to. This kind of thing might be based on how these devices are made because prices tend to rise if certain parts of a device are harder to get.
However, it could all just be that handhelds are a lot more popular than the initial prices accounted for. Supply and demand are always factors in pricing. Until a handheld maker speaks up, the best we can do is wait and hope that price increases and stock issues fade away.
