Preorders are officially open for the ROG XBOX Ally X20, the 20th anniversary handheld we first covered when ASUS revealed it at Computex back in June. The standalone unit runs $1,299 and launches on October 15, while a ROG 20th Anniversary Bundle adds the ROG XREAL R1 Edition 20 Gaming AR Glasses, a custom dbrand Killswitch case, and a Pelican Protector Case for $2,499.
The headline upgrade is the 7.4-inch ROG Nebula HDR Display, an OLED panel with a 30Hz to 120Hz variable refresh rate, FreeSync Premium Pro support, VESA True Black 1400 certification, and 1,400 nits of peak brightness, plus an anti-reflection coating that cuts environmental reflections by 65 percent. Under the hood sits the same AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor as the ROG XBOX Ally X, so this is a display and design refresh rather than a performance jump, even if ASUS calls it the best gaming handheld it has ever built. The design side is doing a lot of the celebrating, with a semi-translucent black chassis showing off a gold-accented internal structure and gold-plated fans, gold lighting around the joysticks, a backlit green XBOX button, and a gold-plated ROG 20th Anniversary badge on the back.
The controls have also been reworked across the board, starting with magnetic TMR joysticks that cut the deadzone down to 3 percent and use a new algorithm to eliminate four-axis snapping. A transforming D-pad switches between 4-way precision and the 8-way freedom fighting games demand, the face buttons now sit more flush with the chassis when fully depressed, and a textured rubberized coating gives the grips a more secure hold.
For those eyeing the full bundle, the ROG XREAL R1 Edition 20 Gaming AR Glasses use a pair of 1080p Micro-OLED displays to project a virtual 171-inch screen at four meters, covering 95 percent of your focused viewing area, all powered by a single USB-C cable connected to the handheld. The glasses are also available standalone for $799 and arrive in mid-September, about a month ahead of the handheld itself. Rounding out the bundle are a dbrand Killswitch case with a skin patterned after the X20’s motherboard layout and a Pelican Protector Case with a foam interior sized for the Ally, the glasses, and a controller of your choice.
As someone who has owned the ROG XBOX Ally X since launch, this would have been more exciting if it wasn’t for hte price. In my review, I called the software experience half-baked, but the comfort completely won me over, and I haven’t touched my Steam Deck OLED since. I also said I’d take the Ally X’s higher resolution and refresh rate over the Steam Deck’s OLED panel, and the X20 conveniently erases that trade-off by keeping 1080p at 120Hz and adding the OLED on top. The price is the sticking point, though. When the Ally X launched, I called its $999.99 price tag a tough pill to swallow, and the X20 asks another $300 on top of that for a prettier screen and better controls. As I said in my review, whether the Ally X was a $1,000 experience depends on what you value, and at $1,299, that math gets a little tougher.
