• The ASUS ROG Ally will launch in Canada for a price of $899.99 for the top end iteration.
• While more expensive than the top of the range Steam Deck, the Ally is better spec’d and gives users more freedom given it runs Windows 11.
• There is no word on local pricing for the ROG Ally in South Africa as of time of writing.

One of the more exciting hardware announcements of 2023 so far – at least for us here in South Africa – is the launch of the ASUS ROG Ally. This handheld gaming console has had our attention since it was announced on April Fool’s day.

Since then we’ve been eagerly awaiting more news about the handheld Windows 11 gaming console and today we have a price.

Over in Canada, the ASUS ROG Ally is currently priced at $899.99 (~R12 836) through Best Buy which is fielding pre-orders. This is for the higher-end version of the console which sports a 512GB SSD, 16GB of DDR5 memory and an AMD Z1 Extreme System on Chip (SOC). A version with a AMD Z1 (no Extreme) is reportedly also available for $600 (~R8 575) according to Engadget but Best Buy is only fielding orders for the Extreme iteration.

That Z1 SOC is built on AMD’s Zen4 architecture. On the graphics side of things AMD Radeon RDNA3 is pulling the visual strings aided by 4GB of VRAM.

Speaking of graphics the display measures seven inches and sports a 1080p resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate.

The console was officially launched on Thursday in Canada and it seems as if ASUS is eyeing a very slow, methodical rollout of the Ally’s availability. This makes a degree of sense since this is the brand’s first foray into this market. Yes, ASUS makes gaming smartphones but that’s very different from a handheld that is designed for one thing, gaming.

Early reviews from the likes of Linus Tech Tips (embedded at the end of this story) paint the Ally as a great first attempt and a must buy, albeit with a few problems surrounding how the product is marketed.

Here in South Africa the most important aspects of the Ally will be its price and how long it survives on battery power. And yes, the Ally is coming to South Africa per a report from Stuff, we just don’t know when that will be.

When it was first announced we said that the Ally would fill the Steam Deck sized hole in South Africa but that hole is seemingly being filled. Last week we spotted Incredible selling Valve’s handheld console starting at R16 999. What isn’t clear is how support is handled for this console as Valve doesn’t officially sell the product locally, per its website.

With that having been said, competition in this space will be important as we don’t want to be sitting in a situation where a budget notebook cheaper than the Ally outperforms it.

Before we close off, we should mention that the price we converted above should be used as a very rough guide. Keep in mind that import tax and other fees such as ICASA accreditations and the like cost money so it’s likely that the Ally will cost a few more Randelas than the converted price above.

With that having been said, the ROG Phone 6 astounded us given its price was below or on par with most premium flagship smartphones. We’re hoping that the Ally dazzles in a similar fashion.