Asus just announced the OLED Xbox Ally X of my dreams

If you asked me what I would change about the Xbox One X handheld – besides fixing Windows, I mean – I would tell you two major things.

First, give me a bigger, better screen. Even slightly larger, so games feel less claustrophobic and with less ugly bezels. Second, get rid of the “Library” button. I am so I’m tired of an accidental press that takes me out of the game and into the Xbox library with no easy way to get back.

With the recently announced ROG Xbox Ally X20, Asus did both – and then some. It’s now a sleek translucent handheld with a drift-resistant Gulkit TMR joystick, a transformable D-pad that goes from 8-way to 4-way by dropping its corners as you turn, button changes, haptic feedback changes, fan changes… and now what might be the best screen ever on a handheld.

Not only does the Xbox Ally It’s a 600-nit panel in SDR with an HDR peak of 1400 nits, which is even higher than the Lenovo Legion Go 2, although both are VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 1000 certified. And, it supports Dolby Vision.

Like Legion Go 2, it also has an improved variable refresh rate (VRR) that drops to 30Hz instead of 48Hz on the original companion, which can make games feel smoother when the AMD Z2 Extreme chip can’t initially hit the game at 48fps. It has the same chips as the original Xbox Ally

The handheld is slightly larger to help accommodate the changes: 9mm wider, half a millimeter thicker and 41 grams heavier.

Not only is that “Library” button gone, but it’s been replaced with a new “Action” button that actually feels useful: It’ll take a screenshot with a single press or record with a long press, just like today’s console controllers typically do.

Asus spokesperson Anthony Spence tells me they sit flush against the casing when you press the ABXY buttons, bumper switches are relocated and have longer quiet throws for better responsiveness, and the fans have been slightly redesigned to channel more fresh air through the chassis for lower touchscreen temperatures.

Plus, the Xbox button now lights up green, which sounds cool – and it has a very fast microSD Express card slot, like the Nintendo Switch 2.

What’s not so good, and honestly doesn’t mean much to me, is that Asus won’t let you buy it alone. This holiday season, it will come exclusively as part of a bundle with a pair of expensive R1 glasses from Asus and Xreal, which cost (at $849) almost as much as the $1,000 Xbox Ally

Asus isn’t pricing the bundle yet, but I suspect the bundle is more to help offset the high price of handhelds — at a time when every other handheld was getting expensive — rather than to help sell the specs at a discount.

I actually think a set of

I guess I’ll dream. For what it’s worth, Spence says he still hasn’t heard of any plans to raise the price of the original Xbox Ally Currently its price is still $1,000. I’ve asked if Asus would offer a way to remap the native handheld library button as well.