Handheld prices spike
Tom’s Guide reports that handheld-gaming prices are high in 2026 but lists several models under $700 as reasonable options for buyers avoiding the top end. (tomsguide.com) The piece frames the market as split between expensive, premium units and a handful of affordable, value-oriented devices. (tomsguide.com)
Handheld gaming in April 2026 has split into two price bands: mainstream machines still land around $400 to $650, while premium Windows models now sit near $900 to $1,150. (store.steampowered.com, bestbuy.com, bestbuy.com, us-store.msi.com) Valve’s Steam Deck OLED starts at $549, and Nintendo’s Switch OLED is listed at $399.99 on Nintendo’s United States site. Lenovo’s Legion Go S with SteamOS is listed at $649.99 at Best Buy. (steamdeck.com, nintendo.com, bestbuy.com) At the high end, Microsoft lists the ROG Xbox Ally X at $999.99, and MSI’s United States store lists the Claw 7 AI+ at $1,149. Lenovo’s more powerful Legion Go S configuration with Ryzen Z1 Extreme and 1 terabyte of storage is listed at $899.99 at Best Buy. (microsoft.com, us-store.msi.com, bestbuy.com) The gap is partly about software as much as chips. Steam Deck OLED and Legion Go S models running SteamOS sell below $700, while the pricier machines lean on Windows 11, faster processors, more memory and larger batteries. (steamdeck.com, lenovo.com, shop.asus.com, us-store.msi.com) Those premium models also advertise specs closer to small laptops than to a Nintendo-style console. ASUS says the ROG Xbox Ally X has an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, 24 gigabytes of memory, 1 terabyte of storage and an 80 watt-hour battery; MSI says the Claw 8 AI+ pairs an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with an 8-inch 120 hertz screen and the same 80 watt-hour battery size. (shop.asus.com, us-store.msi.com) Nintendo is still the outlier. The Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, and Nintendo says it keeps the hybrid TV-and-handheld format, adds a 7.9-inch 1080p display, 256 gigabytes of storage and support for up to 4K output when docked. (nintendo.com) That leaves buyers choosing between two different ideas of portable gaming. One group of devices is built around lower prices and simpler game libraries; the other is selling portable access to full personal-computer storefronts like Steam, Xbox, Epic Games and Windows titles. (nintendo.com, store.steampowered.com, shop.asus.com) Tom’s Guide’s takeaway lines up with the store listings: there are still new handhelds under $700 in 2026, but the fastest machines now cost about twice as much as a Switch OLED and hundreds more than a base Steam Deck OLED. (tech.yahoo.com, nintendo.com, steamdeck.com, microsoft.com)
