Published: 15 October 2026 | Source: ASUS | Author: Tom Logan

ASUS ROG XBOX Ally X20 Review

Introduction

The popularity of handheld devices has exploded in recent years. If you’re a fan of Nintendo then you’ll know that things like the DS and 3DS had a big hold in the handheld market. However, they were still for a niche audience within the gaming community. Sold loads, but not to people with consoles. The launch of the Switch showed what was possible, and the Steam Deck really broke the ‘tech nerd’ market wide open.

With the launch of the ROG Ally X we saw what could be done when a big company like ASUS paired up with a giant like Microsoft. It was fantastic out of the gate. Unsurprisingly, with their 20th Anniversary this year, ASUS have revisited the Ally to bring us this upgraded model, the ROG XBOX Ally X20. ROG, because Republic of Gamers, XBOX, because it’s closest thing the XBOX has to a handheld, and Ally X20, being the 20th Anniversary edition of the Ally X.

Not Just a Visual Update

This is no mere marketing exercise though. Nor are you stuck with just the ROG 20th Anniversary trimmings. Making a mockery of Valves 1200×800 screen, the new ROG Ally X20 boasts a 1080P OLED screen, with Variable Refresh Rate and Dolby Vision HDR. Even if nothing else was new that is enough to make us all sit up and take notice. We all like the flash and flair of fancy cases and things, but the truth is that the screen itself can make or break your experience. Having a RTX 5090 running on a CRT isn’t going to be great, whereas a great OLED panel can make even a tired old GPU look lovely. With the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme CPU and RDNA 3.5 graphics on the ROG Ally X20, that OLED display can only do magical things.

It’s not just the screen that’s been updated either. Cooling and controls have also had the designers eye cast upon them. But rather than keep talking at you, scroll to the next page and we can show you what else has been changed.