Adam loves PC gaming handhelds. The Steam Deck kicked off the trend when it dropped in 2022, but now we have more chunky gaming handhelds than we can hold. Is it too much of a good thing? He cornered Steve from GamersNexus on the Computex show floor to hash it out.
Long story short: Yes, there are too many PC gaming handhelds right now—at least according to Steve, who notes that while there are plenty of innovations and unique features, it’s all way too complicated for regular consumers who will generally default to the Steam Deck anyway. We apologize for crushing the dreams of Computex vendors.
So, if there are too many options right now, is it a passing fad? Will we see all these devices abandoned within a couple of years? Adam hopes not.
The Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck have shown that there’s demand for gaming devices of this size, and it seems to be particularly popular outside of the US, where smaller homes and mass transit make this niche much more relevant for a larger number of buyers.
Who’s going to thrive if the space endures? Valve seems like they’re in an unassailable position at the moment, but if there’s a runner-up, it’s probably Asus. Steve has some entirely justified reservations about the brand, but the ROG Ally X shows that they’re willing to make substantive changes in design even before upgrading the core Ryzen chip inside.
Intel is technically in this space, too, with its MSI Claw. But Adam seems to think that they’re kind of screwed at the moment, as the Meteor Lake laptop processors have proven to be way behind AMD’s APU designs. Lunar Lake—coming to the Claw 8 AI+ and the original 7-inch handheld—might be a different story… but we’ll have to wait and see.
Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips are all the rage for laptops, but we haven’t seen them in handhelds yet. They might be a dark horse for this market, if they have the will to enter it.
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Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.